Assessment of Levels of Hospice Care Coverage Offered to Commercial Managed Care Plan Members in California: Implications for the California Health Insurance Exchange

Abstract

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act that provides for the expansion of affordable insurance to uninsured individuals and small businesses, coupled with the provision of mandated hospice coverage, is expected to increase the enrollment of the terminally ill younger population in hospice care. We surveyed health insurance companies that offer managed care plans in the 2014 California health insurance exchange and large hospice agencies that provided hospice care to privately insured patients in 2011. Compared with Medicare and Medicaid hospice benefits, hospice benefits for privately insured patients, particularly those enrolled in managed care plans, varied widely. Mandating hospice care alone may not be sufficient to ensure that individuals enrolled in different managed care plans receive the same level of coverage.