As of today, individual and family health plans in California can only be purchased with start dates of 9/22/10 and prior. There are literally no health plans available for sale starting 9/23 or after at this time. Several carriers have already shut down online quoting for start dates of 9/23 and beyond, pending the regulatory approval of the new, PPACA compliant plans. All health plans for "new enrollment" sold 9/23 and after must meet the PPACA guidelines which include such things as no-cost preventive care, no lifetime maximums nor annual maximums and child GI coverage ages 0-18.
All of the IFP carriers have submitted new plans to the two regulatory bodies, DMHC and CA DOI for approval. Now the waiting begins until the new plans are approved for sale to the public. This could be very soon or could take a few more weeks. I will advise once plans begin to be made available.
HIPAA plans are also included in the "transformation", so anyone with a HIPAA eligibility date of 9/23 or after will need to hold tight until the plans are available for 10/1 and after.
It is my hope that the regulatory agencies work quickly to approve the new plans. If they are slow, it is possible (not probable, but possible) that there could be a period 9/23 and after with no plans available. I am especially concerned about HMO plans as the DMHC has been slow to approve new plans in California.
I suspect most carriers will choose not to re-invent plans and portfolios, but to make PPACA-compliant changes to existing plans/portfolios. Unfortunately, we will have to wait and see what will be available.
Welcome To The Blackout
PPACA Update
It appears that Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net are planning to re-tool their individual and family plans products for 9/23.
Anthem will close online quoting for any plans with a start date of 9/23 or after on Saturday (8/14). Online quoting will resume once the plans are filed and approved.
Health Net CA is currently not quoting any plans with effective date of 10/1 or after. Probably a similar change-over.
Blue Shield CA has taken a different interpretation of PPACA. The law allows carriers to make the change-over on 9/23 OR at the next subsequent product renewal cycle. Blue Shield CA has its next cycle on Jan 1, 2011 and intends to hold off on all PPACA compliant plan changes until January. My understanding is that this will include the preventive benefits AND guaranteed-issue coverage for children 0-19.
PPACA Preventive Benefits
Under the PPACA (aka Obamacare), effective 9/23/10 all new health plans available on or after that date will be required to provide certain preventive benefits at no cost to the subscriber.
As noted in my earlier blog, Anthem Blue Cross CA has already begun the process of plan re-tooling and, as of today, you cannot view any plans that will be available on or afte 9/23. I expect the other CA IFP carriers to follow this lead.
Here is a link to the PPACA Preventive Benefits List.