News and Issues

Claims costs generally grew from 2014 to 2017, but selected issuers sometimes experienced wide swings in costs from year to year. Most issuers attributed the volatility in costs, in part, to large changes in the number and health of enrollees each year. Average monthly claims costs varied significantly across issuers in the same state. For selected issuers, differences in per member per month claims costs within a given state were often more than $100 — significant given that median per member per month claims costs were about $300. Selected issuers also varied significantly in their decisions to expand or reduce their participation in the exchanges and make changes to premiums and plan design. more »

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey is currently serving her fifteenth term in Congress, representing parts of Westchester and Rockland Counties. Lowey is a strong advocate for women, children, and families. She has been a champion of education throughout her career, fighting for school modernization, teacher development, and literacy programs. Under Lowey’s leadership, federal funding for after-school programs has increased from $1 million in 1996 to $1 billion today. more »

Jo Freeman writes: Sex, race and religion marched through the streets of Washington, DC over the long holiday weekend dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. There wasn’t much brotherly (or sisterly) love, which would have been a more fitting tribute to Dr. King’s memory; neither was there any physical violence, though there were some confrontations. The Women’s March was so successful in 2017 that it has become an annual event.   more »

A bill to increase the credit for employers establishing workplace child care facilities, to increase the child care credit to encourage greater use of quality child care services, to provide incentives for students to earn child care-related degrees and to work in child care facilities, and to increase the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care assistance. A bill to authorize the Office on Violence Against Women to improve the handling of crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by incorporating a trauma-informed approach into the initial response to, and investigation of, such crimes. -A bill to provide women and girls safe access to sanitation facilities in refugee camps. more »