Health Insurance: What To Do After Obama’s Speech
President Obama announced Thursday that health insurance companies will be permitted to extend current policies into next year, even though they don’t comply with the standards set in the Affordable Health Care Act. Insurers won’t be allowed to enroll new customers into these extended policies but will be allowed to reinstate a policy if it was cancelled.
So what should you do now if you are one of those individuals that received a cancellation notice?
- Contact your insurance company and ask if they are going to honor the Presidents request.
- Contact you state insurance commissioners office and ask the status of your policy.
- Use a service like EINSURANCE.com to begin comparing coverages and rates.
If your insurance company renews your policy into 2014 it will not include the new consumer protections that the Affordable Health Care Act requires. And the tax credits available through the ACA will not apply. This announcement by the president does not guarantee that these current health insurance plans will actually be available to customers next year, as insurers and state regulators will have to decide whether to use it.
If you received a cancellation notice and want your policy reinstated contact your insurance provider and the state commissioner. But understand that the presidents plan leaves it at the discretion of the state and the insurance companies. So it is advisable to have as many options as possible. Use the ACA website to see what is available. Comparison shop online to investigate what other options are available. The more information you have the better off you will be regardless of what your insurance company decides to do.
