California declines to implement Obama fix for those losing health insurance

November 22, 2013
Scott Pelley, on the CBS Evening News, said that on Thursday, California officials announced that they “will not let President Obama make good on [his] broken promise” that anyone who liked their health insurance could keep it “even if that policy does not meet new higher standards.” According to Pelley, California officials contend that “reinstating those policies after they’ve already been canceled would only make matters worse,” and “so hundreds of thousands of Californians will lose their substandard health policies.” USA Today(11/22, Kennedy, Welch) reports that “only 12 states have agreed with Obama’s recent proposal.”

Bloomberg News (11/22, Vekshin) reports that Covered California “weighed extending the canceled plans through March 31 or through Dec. 31, 2014, or allowing them to expire at the end of next month.” Bloomberg notes that California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones “said last week he opposed the cancellations and agreed with Obama’s call to allow people to stay in existing plans for an extra year.”

The Los Angeles Times (11/22, Terhune) reports that Covered California board “voted unanimously to break with the president and keep its requirement that insurers terminate most individual policies Dec. 31 because the policies don’t meet all the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” Covered California board member Susan Kennedy is quoted as saying, “We know this transition is difficult and some people will be hurt, but delaying the transition won’t solve a single problem” and could “make a bad situation worse.” According to the Times, it has been estimated that “nearly 600,000 customers getting cancellation notices may see higher rates next year.”

HHS: insurers must detail “deficiencies” in plans being renewed despite not meeting ACA standards. The New York Times (11/22, Shear, Subscription Publication) reports that on Thursday, HHS “unveiled sample letters that insurance companies will be required to send to anyone seeking to renew one of those policies” that was slated for cancellation before the President reversed himself last week. According to the Times, the letters “are blunt, declaring that the insurance that is about to be renewed ‘will NOT provide all of the rights and protections of the health care law.’” The Letters also must “list all the deficiencies in the policy.”

(Article courtesy American Medical Association.)