HHS again extends PCIP program

January 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment

January 15, 2014
The AP (1/15) reports that the Obama Administration has again pushed back the deadline for the Affordable Care Act’s Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, the temporary program that was “supposed to disappear Jan. 1.” Now, because of technical problems with healthcare.gov, the program “will continue to run through the remainder of the health care law’s first open enrollment season, which ends March 31.”

The New York Times (1/15, Pear, Subscription Publication) explains that “Congress had assumed that it would no longer be needed because private insurers would have to accept all applicants and could not charge higher premiums because of a medical condition or history.”
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California declines to implement Obama fix for those losing health insurance

November 22, 2013 By

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.”
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Another Affordable Care Act Myth Debunked

October 31, 2013 By

October 30, 2013
by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times
Deborah Cavallaro is a hard-working real estate agent in the Westchester suburb of Los Angeles who has been featured prominently on a round of news shows lately, talking about how badly Obamacare is going to cost her when her existing plan gets canceled and she has to find a replacement.

She says she’s angry at President Obama for having promised that people who like their health plans could keep them, when hers is getting canceled for not meeting Obamacare’s standards.

“Please explain to me,” she told Maria Bartiromo on CNBC Wednesday, “how my plan is a ‘substandard’ plan when … I’d be paying more for the exchange plans than I am currently paying by a wide margin.”

Bartiromo didn’t take her up on her request. So I will.

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Administration confirms extension of ACA enrollment period

October 24, 2013 By

October 24, 2013
acaobamaAfter speculation all Wednesday that the Obama Administration would delay the deadline to avoid a penalty under the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, fueled by ongoing negative coverage of healthcare.gov and anonymous reports, it was confirmed that the date insurance must be purchased was pushed back. However, the Administration insists this is not an “individual mandate delay,” and maintains that the move is “unrelated” to troubles with the online marketplace.
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