Question: I just kind of wonder whether I will be able to keep my current non-ACA Anthem Blue Cross insurance plan until the end of 2014 after Obama's announcement today.
Answer: President Obama announced today that he (the federal government) will not require insurance companies to cancel ACA non-conforming individual plans on Jan 1, 2014, but would allow them to continue through 2014. Effectively, this presidential gesture passes the decision to cancel or not on to the insurance companies participating in the federally facilitated exchange. Here in California, where more than 900,000 cancellations have been sent out, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones called on insurers to extend the policies being scrapped. Neither Obama nor Jones will have the final say, because Covered California requires insurance companies to cancel non-grandfathered health plans on 1/1/2014. The next CC board meeting is scheduled for November 21st and they will probably discuss the option to reverse the cancellation mandate for 2014. It seems unlikely, in my opinion, that they will overturn their mandate. It would cause chaos in the marketplace and they believe that the roll-out is going OK here.
You are quite right in your post dated 11/14. The chaos created by President Obama’s press conference which really transferred, or sought to transfer, responsibility to the insurance companies to reverse track on the cancellations would be not supportable from a public policy or a business outlook. Though no fan of insurance companies in general, it is my opinion, shared by many, that the burden of switching the game plan at the bottom of the ninth inning is wrong.
And, beyond curing the cancellation problems, assuming CC board reverses and allows retraction of the cancellations, one can just foresee the imbalance within the exchanges here and federally.
This public-private hybrid called the ACA is and will be a disaster. Recall I predicted that months ago. The tipping point was yesterday. It may be a long 2014 for professionals, consumers, small business, and so many others.
I do not know what you are doing here just to give people wrong information regarding current non-ACA compliant insurance plan. As California insurance commissioner already pointed out current insurance plan should be extended into the end of 2014. As my previous comment to you pointed out, just do not pose the wrong information here no matter you like it or not!!
You are better informed than the office of California insurance office ? I called the above office after I posted the question. A guy asked me to call back after at least a week. What a joke regarding your answering my question!!