Health insurance: the race against the clock
There is still time for Congress to pick up parts of the healthcare system change to help stabilize it. The fate of the Affordable Care Act is yet to be determined. Meanwhile, people wait while they pay sky-high premiums and have mounds of pocket bills on the kitchen table. Where is the affordability of the Affordable Care Act?
Tick Tock for insurance companies too. They are under a schedule of filing dates this summer. Insurance companies have time to decide whether or not to still offer ACA plans. By withdrawing the ACA’s plans, things will start to go back to before the law was signed. This time capsule can be useful to many.
Insurance companies may start screening health conditions. Don’t panic yet! Years ago, the only issue with pre-existing conditions wasn’t “if” the insurance company would take you, but in which. All insurance companies have personalities for health conditions. Just because a big-name insurance company has denied someone, it doesn’t mean you can’t get health insurance from another company. Insurance brokers just had to match the personality of the insurance company. It’s simple that way.
If nothing happens by late March, we may be heading for more increases in health plans in 2019. This is terrible news for people who are about to lose their health insurance because of the cost. Not everyone does well enough to pay for health insurance without a problem, and many don’t qualify for any government subsidies for insurance premiums.
Governors in Alaska, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nevada have come up with a “bipartisan blueprint for improving the performance of our nation’s health system.” It brings together a high-level overview of what some changes need to happen. Not being specific enough to make a difference. It may be too early at this point. However, policyholders need some answers, and hard evidence that will benefit them will change.
A class action by 20 US states recently sued the federal government alleging that the law was no longer constitutional after the individual mandate was repealed starting in 2019. Individuals and families who do not have ACCA-compliant coverage will not be fined in 2019. The individual mandate was the same rule that the Supreme Court set in 2012 saying it was constitutional as a tax penalty.
The future of law and health plans is yet to be determined. Since 2014, most policies seem to change every year. Each year premiums go up, and insurance policies cover less. At what point is the breaking point? With this race against time, we will have to wait for the clock to stop to know if we have real change coming.