From MedPage Today
Obama Offers Fix for Cancelled Policies
Published: Nov 14, 2013 | Updated: Nov 14, 2013
By Peggy Peck, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today
WASHINGTON -- Six weeks into the Affordable Care Act rollout, the president took a major step back from "Obamacare" with an administrative fix that may allow Americans who received health insurance cancellation notices to have their policies reinstated for 2014.
The president announced the "fix" during a press conference at the White House on Thursday, a day after the administration unveiled lower-than-expected enrollment numbers for the health exchanges that are a centerpiece of Obamacare.
"When it comes to the policy, this is a very real climbdown on the part of the administration that potentially puts a (further) dent in the insurance exchanges just as they attempt to chug into high gear," said policy expert Daniel C. Ehlke, PhD, of SUNY-Downstate Medical Center School of Public Health.
Ehlke explained that many of those who received cancellation notices “are precisely the younger, healthier (and, in many cases, wealthier) Americans the administration would rather like to see shopping on the exchanges, leaving the risk pool constituted by those actually seeking coverage on the exchange less healthy (and older, on average). Moreover, a year’s delay in bringing all policies up to par gives ACA opponents all the more opportunity to further erode other aspects of the reform program."
At the same press conference, Obama again pledged to improve the problem-plagued website, although he conceded that "buying health insurance is never going to be as easy as buying a song on iTunes."
But it is not clear that the fix he is offering -- actually an extension of the "grandfather" clause in the Affordable Care Act to include policies that were issued after the law passed -- would ensure that such policies would not be required to meet the minimum coverage requirements of the ACA. The existing grandfather clause covers policies issued prior to the passage of the ACA in March 2010.
Read more from MedPage Today >>
Obama Offers Fix for Cancelled Policies
Published: Nov 14, 2013 | Updated: Nov 14, 2013
By Peggy Peck, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today
WASHINGTON -- Six weeks into the Affordable Care Act rollout, the president took a major step back from "Obamacare" with an administrative fix that may allow Americans who received health insurance cancellation notices to have their policies reinstated for 2014.
The president announced the "fix" during a press conference at the White House on Thursday, a day after the administration unveiled lower-than-expected enrollment numbers for the health exchanges that are a centerpiece of Obamacare.
"When it comes to the policy, this is a very real climbdown on the part of the administration that potentially puts a (further) dent in the insurance exchanges just as they attempt to chug into high gear," said policy expert Daniel C. Ehlke, PhD, of SUNY-Downstate Medical Center School of Public Health.
Ehlke explained that many of those who received cancellation notices “are precisely the younger, healthier (and, in many cases, wealthier) Americans the administration would rather like to see shopping on the exchanges, leaving the risk pool constituted by those actually seeking coverage on the exchange less healthy (and older, on average). Moreover, a year’s delay in bringing all policies up to par gives ACA opponents all the more opportunity to further erode other aspects of the reform program."
At the same press conference, Obama again pledged to improve the problem-plagued website, although he conceded that "buying health insurance is never going to be as easy as buying a song on iTunes."
But it is not clear that the fix he is offering -- actually an extension of the "grandfather" clause in the Affordable Care Act to include policies that were issued after the law passed -- would ensure that such policies would not be required to meet the minimum coverage requirements of the ACA. The existing grandfather clause covers policies issued prior to the passage of the ACA in March 2010.
Read more from MedPage Today >>
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