ACA plans required to include broader networks in 2015

The Obama administration is requiring health plans in ACA insurance marketplaces to include a more robust offering of care providers in 2015 after some early backlash over limited networks in the health care law's first year (Source: “White House orders broader Obamacare health plans in 2015,” Washington Post, March 14, 2014).

Health plans selling on the federal marketplaces in 2015 must include 30 percent of area "essential community providers," which are usually health centers and other hospitals serving mostly low-income patients. That's up from a 20 percent requirement in 2014, the first year of expanded overage under the law.