MORE Health Education Act
Bill: H.R.1872 | Sponsor: Rep. Blunt Rochester, Lisa (D-DE)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Marketing and Outreach Restoration to Empower Health Education Act of 2021 or the MORE Health Education Act
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct outreach and reporting related to federally facilitated exchanges (i.e., health insurance exchanges established and operated within states by HHS). The activities must inform potential enrollees of the availability of coverage and related financial assistance under the exchanges and must be provided in culturally and linguistically appropriate formats. The bill provides funding for the activities.
Beginning for plan year 2022, HHS also must publish biweekly reports that include specified metrics about the performance of such exchanges during each annual open enrollment period. Further, after each open enrollment period, HHS must report on how many consumers enrolled in coverage with assistance from patient navigators, the advertising and outreach expenses related to raising awareness about open enrollment, and the amount of monthly user fees collected during the plan year.

To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide for 
  Federal Exchange outreach and educational activities, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Marketing and Outreach Restoration 
to Empower Health Education Act of 2021'' or the ``MORE Health 
Education Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL EXCHANGE OUTREACH AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

    Section 1321(c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
(42 U.S.C. 18041(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs:
            ``(3) Outreach and educational activities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of an Exchange 
                established or operated by the Secretary within a State 
                pursuant to this subsection, the Secretary shall carry 
                out outreach and educational activities for purposes of 
                informing potential enrollees in qualified health plans 
                offered through the Exchange of the availability of 
                coverage under such plans and financial assistance for 
                coverage under such plans. Such outreach and 
                educational activities shall be provided in a manner 
                that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to 
                the needs of the populations being served by the 
                Exchange (including hard-to-reach populations, such as 
                racial and sexual minorities, limited English 
                proficient populations, and young adults).
                    ``(B) Limitation on use of funds.--No funds 
                appropriated under this paragraph shall be used for 
                expenditures for promoting non-ACA compliant health 
                insurance coverage.
                    ``(C) Non-ACA compliant health insurance 
                coverage.--For purposes of this subparagraph (B):
                            ``(i) The term `non-ACA compliant health 
                        insurance coverage' means health insurance 
                        coverage, or a group health plan, that is not a 
                        qualified health plan.
                            ``(ii) Such term includes the following:
                                    ``(I) An association health plan.
                                    ``(II) Short-term limited duration 
                                insurance.
                    ``(D) Funding.--Out of any funds in the Treasury 
                not otherwise appropriated, there are hereby 
                appropriated for fiscal year 2023 and each subsequent 
                fiscal year, $100,000,000 to carry out this paragraph. 
                Funds appropriated under this subparagraph shall remain 
                available until expended.
            ``(4) Annual enrollment targets.--For plan year 2022 and 
        each subsequent plan year, in the case of an Exchange 
        established or operated by the Secretary within a State 
        pursuant to this subsection, the Secretary shall establish 
        annual enrollment targets for such Exchange for such year.''.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE MARKETPLACE.

    (a) Open Enrollment Reports.--For plan year 2022 and each 
subsequent year, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred 
to in this section as the ``Secretary''), in coordination with the 
Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor, shall issue 
biweekly public reports during the annual open enrollment period on the 
performance of the federally facilitated Exchange operated pursuant to 
section 1321(c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 
U.S.C. 18041(c)). Each such report shall include a summary, including 
information on a State-by-State basis where available, of--
            (1) the number of unique website visits;
            (2) the number of individuals who create an account;
            (3) the number of calls to the call center;
            (4) the average wait time for callers contacting the call 
        center;
            (5) the number of individuals who enroll in a qualified 
        health plan; and
            (6) the percentage of individuals who enroll in a qualified 
        health plan through each of--
                    (A) the website;
                    (B) the call center;
                    (C) navigators;
                    (D) agents and brokers;
                    (E) the enrollment assistant program;
                    (F) directly from issuers or web brokers; and
                    (G) other means.
    (b) Open Enrollment After Action Report.--For plan year 2022 and 
each subsequent year, the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary 
of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor, shall publish and make 
public an after action report not later than 3 months after the 
completion of the annual open enrollment period regarding the 
performance of the Exchange described in subsection (a) for the 
applicable plan year. Each such report shall be public and include a 
summary, including information on a State-by-State basis where 
available, of--
            (1) the open enrollment data reported under subsection (a) 
        for the entirety of the enrollment period; and
            (2) activities related to patient navigators described in 
        section 1311(i) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(i)), including--
                    (A) the performance objectives established by the 
                Secretary for such patient navigators;
                    (B) the number of consumers enrolled by such a 
                patient navigator;
                    (C) an assessment of how such patient navigators 
                have met established performance metrics, including a 
                detailed list of all patient navigators, funding 
                received by patient navigators, and whether established 
                performance objectives of patient navigators were met; 
                and
                    (D) with respect to the performance objectives 
                described in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) whether such objectives assess the full 
                        scope of patient navigator responsibilities, 
                        including general education, plan selection, 
                        and determination of eligibility for tax 
                        credits, cost-sharing reductions, or other 
                        coverage;
                            (ii) how the Secretary worked with patient 
                        navigators to establish such objectives; and
                            (iii) how the Secretary adjusted such 
                        objectives for case complexity and other 
                        contextual factors.
    (c) Report on Advertising and Consumer Outreach.--Not later than 3 
months after the completion of the annual open enrollment period for 
plan year 2022, the Secretary shall issue a public report on 
advertising and outreach to consumers for the open enrollment period 
for plan year 2022. Such report shall include a description of--
            (1) the division of spending on individual advertising 
        platforms, including television and radio advertisements and 
        digital media, to raise consumer awareness of open enrollment;
            (2) the division of spending on individual outreach 
        platforms, including email and text messages, to raise consumer 
        awareness of open enrollment; and
            (3) whether the Secretary conducted targeted outreach to 
        specific demographic groups and geographic areas.
    (d) Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the 
Administration's Expenditures of Exchange User Fees.--For plan year 
2022 and each subsequent plan year, not later than the date that is 3 
months after the end of such plan year, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 
and make available to the public an annual report on the expenditures 
by the Department of Health and Human Services of user fees collected 
pursuant to section 156.50 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
any successor regulations). Each such report for a plan year shall 
include a detailed accounting of the amount of such user fees collected 
during such plan year and of the amount of such expenditures used 
during such plan year for the federally facilitated Exchange operated 
pursuant to section 1321(c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable 
Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18041(c)) on outreach and enrollment activities, 
navigators, maintenance of Healthcare.gov, and operation of call 
centers.
    (e) Studies and Reports.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall release to Congress all aggregated documents relating to studies 
and data sets that were created on or after January 1, 2014, and 
related to marketing and outreach with respect to qualified health 
plans offered through Exchanges under title I of the Patient Protection 
and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18001 et seq.).
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