White House Announces Patient’s Bill of Rights Under Affordable Care Act
President Obama today warned health insurance company executives against raising premium rates before the market reforms in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act take effect in 2014. Marking the 90-day anniversary of the signing of the law, Obama announced new regulations to implement a patient’s bill of rights under the act. These new protections apply to most health insurance plans.
The new rules:
- End pre-existing condition exclusions for children under age 19 for all group health plans and new individual market policies
- Stop insurers from arbitrarily rescinding coverage except in cases involving fraud or an intentional misrepresentation of material facts for all plans
- Prohibit the use of lifetime limits in all policies issued or renewed after Sept. 23, 2010
- Phase out the use of annual dollar limits over the next three years for most plans
- Allow consumers to designate any available participating primary care provider as their primary care provider for all new plans
- End the practice of charging higher out-of-pocket costs for emergency services that are obtained out of a plan’s network for all new plans
About 14 million people under age 65 purchase coverage through the nongroup or individual market. A new Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that people who buy their own insurance report that their insurers most recently requested premium increases averaging 20 percent. About 77 percent of the respondents with nongroup coverage report facing a premium increase with a current or previous insurer. Most say they paid the increase, but 16 percent of all policyholders say they switched plans, either buying a less expensive policy from their current insurer or switching companies. After the “buy downs” are taken into account, people who faced a premium increase ended up paying 13 percent more than before.
Posted on 6/24/2010 11:28:50 AM
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