Excellent commentary over at Weekly Standard. Many are saying it’s impossible to let people back onto their plans. Don’t believe them. It’s more than possible and this article makes the point I’ve been making for several weeks now.
With millions of Americans losing their health insurance because of Obamacare, bills have been introduced in Congress to let people keep their plans.
But health industry consultant Bob Laszewski says it’s too late for these measures to help Americans losing their policies on January 1. If Congress and the president agreed to a new law, insurance companies would still need time to re-open canceled plans, state insurance commissioners would have to expedite the approval of those plans (a process that usually takes months), and Americans would need time to choose to sign up for their old plan or hold out for a subsidized Obamacare plan. “You’ve got to have a process where [insurers] send them a letter, and you have to work with their questions, and they have to affirmatively sign up for left or right,” Laszewski tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “You’re not going to do that in six weeks.”
Health policy expert Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center disagrees with that assessment. “I think this notion that ‘Oh, you know, it’ll take too long’ is just an excuse,” says Capretta, a former Associate Director at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Capretta points to California, where the insurance commissioner forced Blue Shield to delay cancellations for over 100,000 people because of a technicality (the insurer sent its cancellation letters out later than required by law).
“These insurers are complying. They found a way to reopen their plan to keep people on them,” Capretta tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “So if that can be done, other plans can be brought back.”
But according to Laszewski, that’s not a feasible option. “I am sure they are in a real mess trying to figure out how to handle it in their systems,” he says. “It took the insurance companies many months to get rid of these policies. They’d have to go through a process of redoing their computer systems.”
Capretta thinks the real problem isn’t that insurers lack the technical ability to reopen canceled plans. “The insurers don’t want to go back. They bought in, spent a lot of money investing in Obamacare,” he says. “If the House passes this…pressure will build on the states and the insurers to reopen these plans and let people stay in them.”
Click through and read the whole thing.
Related:
Calif. Insurance Commissioner: More Than 1M Californians Having Insurance Cancelled Due To ACA
Hey Obama: Right back at ya:
“But I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jifjRVLVjzA
Hahahaha! Remember that arrogance, from the man who never created anything…oh, except OcrapoCare.
Insurance co’s back up their data including client plans. Don’t see why they couldn’t restore a canceled plan . Just another type of operator error or some hardware malfunction. That’s why they back it up.
From the greatest nation in the world: How sad that We, the American people, have been reduced to praying for miracles.
You know you’re in deep dodo when you’ve lost Hitler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USG_gjaEYak
The insurance companies probably worked out their premium structures under the assumption younger, healthier people would pay more based on the exchange offerings. If millions are now unexpectedly able to buy less expensive policies, the cost of Obamacare coverage would necessarily increase actuarially. However, the insurance companies would not be permitted to charge more for political reasons. That means the insurance companies would try to cut costs on claims payments. The nightmare intensifies.
Keep Your Health Plan Act, would undoubtedly help with this situation; employees of supermarkets Giant and Safeway have voted to authorize a strike (can’t happen before Dec. 20). Why? Because contract negotiations have broken down over health care costs. Union leadership admits that Ocare has at least contributed to, if not caused, the impass situation. http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-giant-workers-authorize-strike-20131113,0,1356888.story
Maybe I missed something. Did the insurance companies not read the bill either? I know they thought they were gonna get paid when they cancelled all the policies and forced people into the Marketplace where even higher premiums awaited. But did they not do market research on the buying habits of young people? You know, the ones who are supposed to help subsidize the sick people by paying much higher premiums? Yeah, well, good luck with that.
I’m wondering if Obama’s narcisissm has created something new. E.Cantor tweeted a pic of an Obama signed official dated declaration of Veto Threat;
http://www.buzzfeed.com/passantino/obama-vows-to-veto-keep-your-health-plan-bill .
Also issued by OMB was a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) that says that the President will veto Upton’s bill if presented to him. SAP is a normal historical process including veto threat as explained here; http://keithhennessey.com/2011/07/28/understanding-veto-threats/ .
And this blogpost says that Obama issued a signed dated veto threat against opening the memorials during the shutdown; http://inagist.com/all/389494142046195712/
So, I’m wondering if the SAP is not enough for Obama because his name/signature is not on it. Therefore, a new special document was created for him to sign.