Insurers hold the cards in new Obama health plan change
Small employers disappointed that their current health plans will get canned in 2014 due to Obamacare could – added emphasis on could – see those plans get a second life.
In a sobering news conference at the White House, President Obama took the blame for the botched rollout of his signature law and his inability to make good on a promise to allow Americans and small employers to keep their current health plans if they liked them.
“We fumbled the rollout on this healthcare law,” Obama said during the news conference. He also fell on the sword of public backlash, taking responsibility for framing his healthcare reform law as something that would do a number of things that it has failed to accomplish thus far.
“And I think it’s legitimate for them (the American people) to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this healthcare law in particular, and on a whole range of these issues in general,” he said.
Putting plans in insurers’ hands
Obama went on to promise to continue to work on the law to ensure it delivers on its promises.
The first order of business: Allowing individuals and small employers to keep medical plans that were scheduled to be terminated in 2014.
During the conference, Obama announced another change to the healthcare reform law. He said his administration will be asking insurance companies to allow policyholders to keep their current healthcare plans for one more year, even if those plans fail to meet Obamacare’s standards for essential health benefits.
Prior to this policy change, all non-grandfathered health insurance plans in the individual and small group markets — whether they’re offered through a state exchange or not — were required to cover services in at least 10 categories starting on Jan. 1, 2014.
The 10 categories are:
- Ambulatory patient services
- Emergency services
- Hospitalization
- Maternity and newborn care
- Mental health and substance use disorder services
- Prescription medications
- Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices
- Lab services
- Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management, and
- Pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
As a result of these requirements, insurers prepared to cancel policies that failed to offer coverage that met these standards and had begun sending policyholders notices that their plans would be canceled.
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