USofCare Statement on the NBPP Final Rule and Threats to Affordable Health Care Access

Washington, DC — Last Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the 2027 Notice of Benefits and Payment Parameters Final Rule, which sets standards and policies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces. Included in this rule are several policy changes that will negatively impact people’s access to affordable health care, including:

• Increasing exposure to out-of-pocket costs in catastrophic and bronze plans while steering more people into coverage that covers less of what people need. 
• Rolling back state flexibility on essential health benefits, including limiting adult dental coverage and access to additional services that states have added to make the coverage of Marketplace plans in their states more comprehensive.
• Weakening access to in-network providers by eliminating consistent federal network adequacy standards.
• Imposing new administrative hurdles through pre-enrollment verification requirements.

These changes will significantly impact the over 20 million people who seek affordable health insurance on the Marketplaces and will now face higher costs for less coverage, while creating additional instability in the Marketplaces. In response to these changes, which United States of Care urged CMS to reverse after the release of the proposed rule earlier this year, United States of Care issued the following statement: 

“These proposals shift more cost and complexity onto people – that’s the opposite of what people are telling us they need right now,” said United States of Care Senior Director of Federal Policy & Advocacy Lisa Hunter. “Lower premiums aren’t affordable if people can’t count on their coverage when they need it. We shouldn’t be steering people into plans that look affordable on paper but leave them with an impossibly high bill when they actually need to use them. Adding more hoops to enroll and fewer guarantees once you’re covered is a harmful step backwards. People want coverage they can count on and health care they can afford, not more uncertainty and out-of-pocket costs. Simply put, this final rule leaves people worse off.”

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