- About 15 million people purchase health insurance policies on the individual market. That’s about 5 percent of the population. [Washington Post, October 29]
- These people are receiving letters from insurance companies. Why?
- Some — or maybe even most — of the plans offered on the individual insurance market right now don’t meet certain requirements in the health-care law. [Washington Post October 29]
- One type of policy being discontinued by Florida Blue, for example, didn’t cover hospitalizations or emergency room visits and paid a maximum of $50 toward doctor visits. Some policies provided only the barest of coverage when someone did fall ill. [NPR, October 30, 2013]
- Could insurance companies have simply expanded benefits to meet the minimum requirements of the new health-care law rather than cancel the policies? Yes, they have in the past when increasing coverage to auto and homeowner policies.
- Insurance companies could have compiled data on health care cost-sharing the same way they do with auto and homeowner costs. Then they could have adjusted prices instead of cancelling policies. But, they chose not to invest resources to go that route.
- As they drew up the rates for 2014, insurance firms had to make educated guesses about how many customers would stay, how many new ones they would attract – and what the health conditions of those new members might be. [Kaiser Health News, OCT 30, 2013]
So What Now?
- HIPAA, a health law passed in the 1990s, does require that insurance companies offer subscribers the opportunity to renew their policy, so long as they continue to pay monthly premiums. If they want to discontinue a subscriber’s policy, the insurance plan must provide 90 days’ notice and “the option to purchase any other individual health insurance coverage currently being offered by the issuer for individuals in that market.” [Washington Post October 29]
- You should double-check and compare a range of plans, experts say. An independent broker can show you plans from various carriers. [Kaiser Health News, OCT 30, 2013]
- While consumers are having trouble creating accounts through healthcare.gov, the website now allows shoppers to browse health plans without creating an account. [Kaiser Health News, OCT 30, 2013]
- Just as consumers shopping for a car find wide cost variations, the same principle applies when shopping for health insurance. After all, isn’t your health-care at least as important as the car you drive?
- Under the health law, insurers who fail to spend at least 80 percent of their premium revenue on medical care have to issue rebates to consumers. [Kaiser Health News, OCT 30, 2013]
