Health
Under bipartisan pressure to help Americans dropped by their insurers under the new health care law, President Barack Obama on Thursday proposed a fix that would allow consumers to keep their current policies, even if those plans do not meet the law’s coverage standards.
The change would allow insurers to renew policies for one year or possibly longer, but would require insurance companies to inform customers of the benefits they will forfeit by extending their current plans.
“I said we would do everything we can to fix this problem,” Obama said.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance plans are required to provide 10 categories of “essential health benefits,” including maternity care, prescription drug coverage and outpatient care.
Policies that do not include those benefits were not previously permitted under the ACA unless they were purchased prior to March 23, 2010, when the health bill was signed into law.
It is not clear whether the new proposal can be implemented without passing legislation, but if so it would represent the latest in a series of administrative delays, including the employer mandate to provide health insurance to workers.
“I am highly skeptical that they can do this administratively,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, just prior to the president’s announcement.
"The only way to fully protect the American people is to scrap this law once and for all. There is no way to fix this," he added.
The expiration notices have caused a storm of criticism for Obama, who had repeatedly assured Americans they would not be forced off their health care plans.
House Republicans are expected to vote on a bill Friday that would allow people to keep their current insurance plans through 2014 — an amendment which analysts say may tempt some Democrats to vote in favor of the measure.
It is not clear how insurance companies will respond to the change, though the White House said state insurance commissioners will retain their powers to regulate insurance markets, including influencing which plans are offered.
“Somehow they're going to have to try and force insurance companies to offer a plan that the insurance companies may not want to continue to offer,” said Michael Sparer, department chair of health policy and management at Columbia University. “Some of this is happening because the insurance companies are saying these plans are no longer economically viable.”
America's Health Insurance Plans, a national trade group representing the health insurance industry, said in a statement: "Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers."
Obama, responding to a reporter's question on his falling approval ratings, said, "I think it's legitimate for (Americans) to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this health care law in particular and on a whole range of issues in general."
The administration is also promising improvements in the balky federal website blamed for bringing in fewer than 27,000 enrollees in 36 states combined in October. The administration had said in advance the enrollment numbers would fall far short of initial expectations. After weeks of highly publicized technical woes, they did.
"That's on me," Obama said.
Adding in enrollment of more than 79,000 in the 14 states with their own websites, the nationwide number of 106,000 October sign-ups was barely one-fifth of what officials had projected — and a small fraction of the millions who have received private coverage cancellations as a result of the federal law.
The administration said an additional 1 million people have been found eligible to buy coverage in the markets, with about one-third qualifying for tax credits to reduce their premiums. Another 396,000 have been found eligible for Medicaid, which covers low-income people.
Republicans, who have repeatedly tried to repeal the law since it passed three years ago, were unmoved.
An estimated 2-3 percent of all Americans purchase insurance on their own and earn too much to qualify for subsidies on the new health exchanges, according to the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation. The majority of people receive health insurance through their jobs and would not be directly affected by the change.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
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