idk when to assume the worst and when to assume “oh the AHRQ RIF must have gotten the IT folks, too”

(grim either way, though one option is leagues grimmer)

Don't get me wrong, I think autopay is a tremendous tool for minimizing enrollment frictions; all of my own bills are on autopay. I've literally written a paper on premium payments creating administrative frictions.

But I also expect that my monthly autopayments will be relatively stable.

One of the weedy things I worry/wonder about is (1) how aware of the premiums changes enrollees are, and (2) among those who aren't aware, how many are having their premiums automatically debited from their bank accounts?

I don't offhand... some of the SBMs are considerably more flexible about mid-year enrollment because they have considerable discretion about how to set up SEPs

"In December I thought the premium was too expensive, but now I need insurance" isn't a qualifying life event. Neither is "I had a fully-subsidized premium in December and didn't realize I needed to set up a payment method for January."

The exception to this is when you are eligible for a special enrollment period (SEP) because of a qualifying life event (like marriage, divorce, loss of ESI, etc.)

A recent regulation increased the stringency of verification for SEP eligibility, so those will be more onerous to come by.

In conversations I've had, people often lose sight of — or never thought about in the first place — how a strict open enrollment period interacts with the choice of whether or not to enroll in marketplace coverage as ePTCs expire

Unlike Medicaid, people can't opt in to marketplace coverage mid-year

(update: we had more than enough dinner rolls)

still apologizing to my husband on the daily for making him move from chicago to boston

All figures from KFF, of course.

Growth/80%: www.kff.org/quick-take/m...

Poll results from earlier this month: www.kff.org/affordable-c...