BALTIMORE –The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) today announced that it has been awarded $280,000 from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of its State Flexibility Grant program. The funds will help the agency to continue to analyze the individual health insurance market in Maryland as efforts are made to support consumer protections and market reforms.
“We are excited to be awarded this grant by CMS Administrator Seema Verma as we continue to look for innovative ways to expand access to and stabilize Maryland’s individual health insurance market,” said Maryland Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer, Jr. “These federal funds provide additional resources to our team to do the analytical research work necessary to explore all of our options related to consumer protection and market reforms.”
These funds will assist the MIA with analyzing network accessibility, focusing on guaranteed availability of plan coverage in the state, and barriers to use of essential health benefits in low income, underserved, and rural areas. The MIA hopes to gain valuable insight into the suitability of network adequacy standards now in effect, assess how well carriers’ plan designs are meeting the needs of this population, and foster communications with carriers and consumer advocacy groups to remedy current issues and create a path forward.
This funding is part of a $250 million for State Rate Review Grants provided by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to improve the process for how states review proposed health insurance rates. To learn more about CMS’ grant program, go here: https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs-and-Initiatives/Health-Insurance-Market-Reforms/Downloads/state-flexibility-grant-fact-sheet.pdf.
About the Maryland Insurance Administration
The Maryland Insurance Administration is an independent State agency charged with regulating Maryland’s $28.5 billion insurance industry. For more information about the Insurance Administration, please visit www.insurance.maryland.gov or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MDInsuranceAdmin or Twitter at @MD_Insurance.
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