So I keep hearing people say that if the current health care reform bills are passed that you will no longer be able to enroll in a private health insurance program unless it is part of a government exchange, or the public health insurance option. I thought this preposterous, so I started reading the bill for myself to see what the hell was going on. Then I found this:
SEC. 102. PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT COVERAGE.
7(a) Grandfathered Health Insurance Coverage Defined- Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable coverage under this division, the term ‘grandfathered health insurance coverage’ means individual health insurance coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the first day of Y1 if the following conditions are met:
(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT-
(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.
This is directly from H.R. 3200 as introduced in the house. So when Obama says we can keep our current coverage, does he mean we have freedom of choice to pursue health insurance? Or does that mean we can keep our current plan, but if we want a new one we must go through the government?
I am all for health care reform. I am in favor of a public option. The national health insurance exchange sounds like a good idea to me too. However, the above statements are very confusing. So I need some feedback. What is your opinion of the above referenced section? Am I missing the point somehow?
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Well, first off, there's still five bills from various committees, so this is all pretty...what's the word...undecided?
As I understand it, none of the bills fundamentally change how people purchase insurance (though they mandate that people get insurance). They do, however, have new consumer protections, etc., such as preventing insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions.
My guess is that the first paragraph is basically trying to clarify and codify that people don't have to tear up old policies and start over. The following paragraph explains that insurance companies must follow the new guidelines for new policies. No biggie.
But since we didn't follow Shakespeare's advice re: lawyers, we wind up needing to codify law in bills like this one that are - yikes! - 1,017 pages long.
That said, I've never become fluent in legalese. Something about verb conjugations...
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