There is still time for Congress to pick up the pieces to change the health care system to help stabilize it. The fate of the Affordable Care Act has yet to be determined. Meanwhile, people wait while paying extremely high premiums and having mountains of out-of-pocket expenses on the kitchen table. Where is the affordability of the Affordable Care Act?
Tick tock also for insurance companies. They’re under a timeline for this summer’s performance dates. Insurance companies have time to decide whether or not to continue offering ACA plans. By withdrawing the ACA plans, things will start to go back to before the law was signed. This time capsule can be good for many.
Insurance companies can start evaluating health conditions. Don’t panic yet! Years ago, the only problem with pre-existing conditions was not “if” an insurance company would accept it, but which one. Every insurance company had personalities for health conditions. Just because someone has been turned down by a reputable insurance company doesn’t mean you can’t get health insurance from another company. Insurance brokers just had to match the personality with the insurance company. It’s as simple as that.
If nothing happens by the end of March, we could move to more health plan increases in 2019. This is terrible news for people who are about to lose their health insurance because of the cost. Not everyone is doing well enough to pay for their health insurance without a problem, and many more don’t qualify for any government subsidy on premiums.
The Governors of Alaska, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nevada proposed “A Bipartisan Plan to Improve the Performance of Our Nation’s Health Care System.” Put together a high-level overview of what some changes should happen. It doesn’t get specific enough to make a difference. Maybe it’s too soon at this point. However, policyholders need some answers, and hard evidence that something will change and benefit them.
The 20-state class action lawsuit recently sued the federal government alleging that the law was no longer constitutional after the repeal of the individual mandate beginning in 2019. Individuals and families without ACA-compliant coverage no longer they will not be fined with a tax penalty in 2019. The individual mandate was the same rule that the Supreme Court determined in 2012 saying it was constitutional as a tax penalty.
The future of the law and the health plans are yet to be determined. Since 2014, it seems that most of the policies change every year. Every year the premiums go up and the policies cover less. At what point is the breaking point? With this race against the clock, we will have to wait for the clock to stop to know if a real change is coming.