Largest Illinois Insurer Reacts To Obama's Shift
From the Associated Press
With President Barack Obama shifting course Thursday to allow insurers to renew health plans they planned to cancel, Illinois regulators and the state's largest health insurance company found the ball in their court.
Obama announced he would give insurers the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled because they fall short of coverage requirements under the nation's health overhaul. The change would be effective for one year, although an extension is possible.
In Illinois, a spokesman said state Insurance Director Andrew Boron was studying the issue, looking at options under state law. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois officials said the company, which has the most customers in the state's individual market, is "determining next steps," but stopped short of promising to renew its canceled plans.
Shonn Hild, a landscaper from the central Illinois city of Sullivan, whose health plan was canceled recently, said Obama's proposal may be "too little, too late." He said he called Blue Cross on Thursday after the president's announcement and was told the company is gathering information. But "as of right now they do not have any plans to bring back the discontinued plans," Hild said he was told.
Insurers are not required to continue the canceled plans under Obama's administrative change to the Affordable Care Act, and it's not clear what they will decide to do.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Associated Press
With President Barack Obama shifting course Thursday to allow insurers to renew health plans they planned to cancel, Illinois regulators and the state's largest health insurance company found the ball in their court.
Obama announced he would give insurers the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled because they fall short of coverage requirements under the nation's health overhaul. The change would be effective for one year, although an extension is possible.
In Illinois, a spokesman said state Insurance Director Andrew Boron was studying the issue, looking at options under state law. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois officials said the company, which has the most customers in the state's individual market, is "determining next steps," but stopped short of promising to renew its canceled plans.
Shonn Hild, a landscaper from the central Illinois city of Sullivan, whose health plan was canceled recently, said Obama's proposal may be "too little, too late." He said he called Blue Cross on Thursday after the president's announcement and was told the company is gathering information. But "as of right now they do not have any plans to bring back the discontinued plans," Hild said he was told.
Insurers are not required to continue the canceled plans under Obama's administrative change to the Affordable Care Act, and it's not clear what they will decide to do.
Read more in our daily News Update...