Individuals who have had their health insurance policies canceled over the last few weeks may be able to keep them because of an administrative fix.
At a Nov. 14 press conference, President Barack Obama said he was making an administrative change that would allow health plans to continue to offer existing plans to their current enrollees throughout 2014, even if those plans don’t meet the coverage standards under the Affordable Care Act.
Whether to offer the plans now is up to insurance companies and state insurance commissioners, but the ACA is no longer a barrier, President Obama said.
If insurers continue to offer these plans in 2014, they must spell out to their customers which insurance protections the plans are lacking and what may be available on the health insurance exchanges.
President Barack Obama
Under the ACA, health plans that were in place before the law was signed in March 2010 are "grandfathered" in place and consumers can keep them. However, if insurers make changes to those plans, the plans must come into compliance with ACA requirements. The ACA also requires plans created after March 2010 to meet the law’s requirements starting on Jan. 1, 2014.
Under the action announced by President Obama, plans that have been created or altered since 2010 can continue to be offered to existing enrollees in 2014.
The announcement came after several congressional Democrats began to join their Republican colleagues in calling for a change that would allow Americans to keep their current health plans. The House is set to vote on Nov. 15 on a bill introduced by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that would essentially grandfather all existing health plans during 2014. Unlike the President’s fix, the Upton proposal would allow current plans to continue to enroll new members.
President Obama said he now regrets the pledge he made that if Americans like their health plans they could keep them. While it was true for about 95% of Americans, he said, the grandfathering clause crafted by the administration did not go far enough in allowing more people to keep their plans. "That’s on me," he said during the press conference.
The President’s announcement was greeted with skepticism by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who urged Democrats to join him in supporting Rep. Upton’s bill (H.R. 3350) instead.
Speaker Boehner said the Obama administration misled the public with the "if you like your health plan, you can keep it" pledge. "It’s clear that the American people simply can’t trust this White House," he said.
Health care insurers also expressed displeasure with the President’s announcement on grandfathered plans, saying that it has the potential to "destabilize" the insurance market.
"Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace. If, due to these changes, fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase coverage in the exchange, premiums will increase in the marketplace and there will be fewer choices for consumers," Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement. "Additional steps must be taken to stabilize the marketplace and mitigate the adverse impact on consumers."
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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