Description:
H.R. 1386 would require CMS to annually obligate to the Navigator Program $100 million of the user fees collected from insurers participating in the federally-facilitated health insurance marketplace established under the ACA. Additionally, the legislation would allow Navigator grantees to facilitate enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program and would modify the criteria that CMS uses to award Navigator grants. Enacting H.R. 1386 would affect direct spending and revenues. The legislation would designate a specific purpose for existing funding but would not appropriate additional amounts. Increased funding for the Navigator program could increase the number of people receiving subsidies and could improve the average health of enrollees in marketplace plans (and thus lower average premiums for those plans). However, because CBO and JCT do not have a basis for comparing the effects on enrollment and subsidies of using the funding for the newly specified activity rather than the choices under current law (which also could affect enrollment and subsidies), the agencies cannot estimate the magnitude or direction of those effects.
