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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Obama’s health care changes will allow old policies to stay in place

Noam N. Levey McClatchy-Tribune

WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans have been notified in recent weeks by their health insurance companies that their coverage will soon be canceled because of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

To address the outrage over these cancellations, the Obama administration outlined a new policy Thursday to allow insurers to extend current health plans into 2015.

Here are answers to some key questions:

Q. Why are the cancellation notices being sent?

A. The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance policies that begin after Jan. 1, 2014, to offer new consumer protections.

Among other things, these protections prohibit insurers from turning down sick customers and require all health plans to offer a basic set of benefits, including prescription drug, hospitalization and maternity coverage. Many health plans did not offer these protections.

Q. Why didn’t all consumers with these plans receive cancellations?

A. Health insurers in most states have until Dec. 31 to renew health plans. Plans renewed before Dec. 31 do not have to include the health law’s new protections.

Some insurance companies canceled policies up for renewal at the end of the year. But others opted to renew them early. That allowed consumers to remain on their current plan for another year.

Q. What does the new Obama administration plan do?

A. The plan would allow some consumers to remain on their current health plan even longer. Instead of having to renew their current plan by Dec. 31, consumers would now have until Oct. 1, 2014. Because health plans typically last a year, that means a consumer could stay on a health plan without the new protections until Sept. 30, 2015.

Q. Would all consumers whose policies were canceled be able to do this?

A. Not necessarily.

Insurance companies that have sent cancellation notices would have to offer those consumers the option to renew. Many insurers are reluctant to do this because they have already created new plans for next year.

State insurance regulators would also have to sign off. That, too, could be complicated. Many states have enacted laws that require all health insurance policies to meet the standards in the Affordable Care Act starting Jan. 1.

Obama administration officials said states can choose whether to allow current health plans to be extended. And it’s up to the insurance companies whether they want to renew the policies.