For 10 years, Del Backs and his wife, Kelly, have had an individual health insurance policy with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield theyre happy with.Its really been working well for us, said Backs. We have a $6,000 deductible, because what we want is catastrophic coverage. Our premium is just $424 a month, and Anthem pays 80 percent of our medical expenses after the deductible. But last month, the Spencer couple received a letter from Anthem informing them the insurance company will discontinue their policy on Jan. 1, 2014, because it doesnt meet all the requirements of the new health care reform laws, also called the Affordable Care Act. The letter goes on to say that Anthem will transition them into a new plan on Jan. 1 that meets the new requirements, one with the same $6,000 deductible but a premium of $979 and that covers only 60 percent of their medical expenses rather than the 80 percent they now enjoy. I was shocked, Backs said. Our premiums are going to be doubled for a policy that is not nearly as good as the one we now have. I feel like weve been lied to by the government. Millions more The Backses are not alone. Millions of Americans are receiving similar cancellation notices, and millions more will receive them in the coming months. NBC News reported this week that 50 to 80 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive cancellation letters during the next year, because their existing policies dont meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. Experts familiar with the ACA told NBC News that many of those forced to buy pricier policies will experience sticker shock. We had no idea wed be forced to buy a new policy we dont want, and that our rates would go sky high, Backs said. When I first saw the letter, I thought, Are you serious? The cancellation letter said the Backses are free to shop for another policy, and possibly qualify for government subsidies that would lower their premium, so they went to the healthcare.gov marketplace. After 50 failed attempts over a 10-day period, I finally got on the website, and found I could choose from among 10 plans offered by Anthem, he said. I found a plan that was very similar to the one we now have, but the premium was $1,200 a month. And we do not qualify for a subsidy. This week, CBS News said an estimated 2 million Americans have been told they cannot renew their current insurance policies, and that number is three times higher than the number of people estimated to have bought insurance under the new Affordable Care Act. CBS News said it has confirmed with insurance companies across the country that the number of people receiving notices saying they cant keep their existing plans is more than 279,000 in California, 146,000 in Michigan, 300,000 in Florida, and 800,000 in New Jersey -- and that these numbers represent just the tip of the iceberg. The avalanche of cancellations has put the White House on the defensive, because President Barack Obama has repeatedly promised, before and after passage of the new law, that, if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. Period. Fielding a barrage of stinging questions in a press briefing this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney conceded that many in the individual market are losing their current coverage, but said theyre being offered better coverage in its place, and many will get tax subsidies that would offset any increased costs. He added that those losing their coverage represent only 5 percent of Americans with health insurance, or roughly 14 million people. Industry experts say about half the people getting the cancellation letters will pay more for marketplace policies, and half will pay less thanks to taxpayer-funded subsidies. Why cancellations? Chris Schrader of Schrader and Associates, who is on a 25-member committee coordinating efforts to help Monroe County residents sign up for health insurance on Indianas online marketplace, said the 14 million or so with individual health insurance polices -- mostly small business owners and sole proprietors -- have highly customized plans designed to meet their particular health care needs. These plans often have low premiums and high deductibles, but lack certain benefits. A 50-year-old male, for example, might pick a plan with no coverage for pre-natal and breast cancer exams, but one thats loaded up on coverage hed need if he suffers a heart attack, he said. If he has $10,000 stashed away, he might pick a high deductible plan with a low premium. But because the Affordable Care Act requires all insurance companies to offer 10 essential health benefits in all their plans -- such as prescription drug coverage, emergency visits and maternity, dental and mental health coverage -- millions of individual policies are being canceled because they fall short of those requirements. Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner, after publicly apologizing for the dysfunction of the healthcare.gov website this week, blamed the insurance companies for canceling peoples individual policies. Some are arguing that the insurance companies are acting in bad faith and kicking dirt on the ACA, but the insurance companies hands are tied by the standards established by the ACA, Schrader said. The cancellation letters are simply making a factual statement to policyholders that their policy is being canceled because it does not meet the new laws minimum requirements, and therefore cannot be issued. Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation told CBS News that the insurance companies have no choice but to cancel policies, saying, What were seeing now is reality coming into play. When the ACA was being talked about in the abstract, there were a lot of disparate opinions about how it would play out, Schrader said. But now that we have facts on the ground, people are seeing that it can be very unfriendly to people who already have private insurance. Monday, the Obama administration granted a six-week extension -- until March 31, 2014 -- for Americans to sign up for coverage and avoid new tax penalties. But Schrader said if people whove had their policies canceled cannot afford to buy a new policy on the marketplace by Dec. 15, they will be left without any insurance on Jan. 1, 2014. The administration said it hopes the marketplace website will be up and running by the end of November. We had no idea wed be forced to buy a new policy we dont want, and that our rates would go sky high. When I first saw the letter, I thought, Are you serious? Del Backs, who got a cancellation notice for an individual health insurance policy costing $424 a month for him and his wife, while the offered replacement is $979 per month ___
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 16:26:10 +0000
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