President Obama announced at a November 14 press conference that people with health care coverage that is not Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant may be able to keep their plans in 2014. The action comes after several million people across the United States have received notices from their insurance carriers indicating their policies will be cancelled at the end of the year. We will learn how this new policy will be implemented from the reactions of insurance carriers and state insurance commissioners in the coming days.

Insurance companies are now left with the decision of whether to continue offering these existing policies through 2014 in addition to new, ACA-compliant policies to new consumers. The new grandfathering only applies to people who are currently enrolled in these plans.

Questions remain about how this new policy will work, including how insurance commissioners will react, whether insurance companies will choose to continue these policies, what the rates for the policies will be, and whether this grandfathering will extend past 2014.

“Premiums have already been set for next year based on an assumption of when consumers will be transitioning to the new marketplace,” America’s Health Insurance Plans’ (AHIP) President and CEO Karen Ignagni said in a statement. “If now fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase coverage in the exchange, premiums will increase and there will be fewer choices for consumers.”

All I can say at this point is stay tuned…

~excerpts from BenefitMall Healthcare Exchange