Usually, Republicans are all for states’ rights. They hate centralized, federal power. But not in this case! That’s because they knew the more states that piled into the federal exchange, the more crushing the demand and the more likely something would go buggy. And that’s exactly what they got! Thirty-six states rebuffed the opportunity for local autonomy, and Republicans got what they wanted—something else to complain about, even if that means they’re whining that their constituents can’t get the very insurance that Republicans never wanted them to get anyway. Brady’s complaint about insurers dropping clients is legitimate. It’s outrageous. The law allowed some of these plans to continue—grandfathered in—even though they didn’t comply with the new rules. But some insurance companies cancelled them anyway. In some other cases, the policies didn’t qualify for grandfathering. And in some, the insurer would have cancelled them whether the ACA had been passed or not. Such cancellations occurred regularly in the past. In some cases, the insurers sent the policy holders threatening termination letters. Some policy holders interpreted these letters to mean that they had to buy more expensive policies immediately or lose coverage. At least one state has fined a national insurer for misleading policy holders. In another case, an insurer cancelled the plan that covered a Seattle woman, her husband and 15-year-old daughter and recommended they accept a new plan at an extra $300 a month. The letter didn’t mention Washington’s state insurance exchange, where the woman found a plan that will cost her family $1,000 less a month than the one the insurer told her to accept. Her conclusion: “People who are afraid of the ACA should be much more afraid of the insurance companies.” Not everyone will be as lucky as this Seattle woman. In the end, the ACA will probably force about 3 percent of Americans to buy higher-quality and probably more expensive health plans. Another 3 percent will have to buy a new plan but will pay about the same amount for about the same benefits. Eighty percent of people will be unaffected. And 14 percent will benefit greatly. These are the Americans who are currently uninsured and will gain access to affordable policies under the ACA. That’s not perfect. But now that Republicans have decided they care whether Americans have access to health insurance, surely they will be working night and day to assist the 3 percent who will have to pay more, and no longer trying to kill the law that will help 25 million Americans get health insurance.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 13:38:05 +0000
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