Insurers Balk At Obama’s Proposed Cancellation ‘Fix’
By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News Staff Writer // November 28, 2013
IMPACT OF THE CANCELLATION 'FIX' THREATENS LONGTERM SUCCESS OF OBAMACARE
ABOVE VIDEO: Fox News takes an objective look at the impact of President Obama’s proposed health policy cancellation ‘Fix” on the insurance industry.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bowing to pressure, President Obama last Thursday announced changes to his healthcare law that would give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled. Kaiser Health News (KHN) examines how the president’s proposed health insurance cancellation “fix” will affect calculations for prices on the Affordable Care Act online marketplaces.
KHN reports that Florida Blue, the Blue Cross plan in our state, has already offered to extend coverage for 40,000 people who were due to lose their existing plans in December, and as many as 260,000 more whose policies expire next year.
KAISERHEALTHNEWS.ORG — Despite numerous problems with the health law rollout, WellPoint CEO Joseph Swedish told analysts last week he was still “confident” in the company’s bet to be the biggest seller of Obamacare insurance.
Two days later President Barack Obama changed the rules. Suddenly subscribers who were expected to buy coverage through the health law’s marketplaces from WellPoint, the nation’s No. 2 medical carrier, may end up keeping the plans they have now.
To try to fulfill his 2009 pledge that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” Obama is urging insurers to renew coverage that doesn’t include all the benefits required by the Affordable Care Act.
But the switch doesn’t just pose a potential quandary for consumers, who may have to weigh the convenience of staying pat against the option of better benefits and possible subsidies available in the marketplaces.
It changes the calculation for insurance companies. In states that go along with Obama’s suggestion, it raises the chances that marketplace plans will lose money — adding a new threat to the long-term success of the health overhaul, some argue.
CLICK HERE to read the complete story on KaiserHealthNews.org.
