California Health Insurance Legislative News (Lots of it!)

Big day in Sacramento today. And with 8/31 deadlines looming, we will likely see more activity.California AB 1602 (Perez) and SB 900 (Alquist) has passed and is awaiting the Governor's signature to make it law. AB 1602 sets up the California health insurance exchange. I expect this to be signed as Gov Schwarzenegger indicated earlier this year that he wants the exchange model set up before he

CA Health Bills Up Against Deadline

There are currently four bills in process in Sacramento which need to be passed or rejected by August 31, 2010. If they are not passed or rejected, the bills will die.The following are the applicable bills:AB 2578 (D. Jones) - Requires approval from state regulators for increases in health coverage premiums.SB 1163 (M Leno) - Would require insurers to justify denials of coverage and premium

9/23/10 What Happens To My California Healthcare Plan?

Have been doing some digging this week on the future of healthcare plan changes for the upcoming 9/23 PPACA compliance requirement. I wanted to outline for everyone in California what the most likely scenario will be for your current and/or future healthcare plan. I expect the process to be generally uniform amongst the carriers.As I understand it today (this is of course all subject to be

Welcome To The Blackout

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 "

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

Anthem CA Re-tooling For Obamacare

Effective August 14th, quoting for individual health plans will only be available for start dates of Sept 22 or before. If you request an effective date on or after Sept 23, the system will have a pop up message stating that no plans are available for the requested effective date.Anthem is currently working on the mandatory changes and rates for plans to be sold Sept 23 and after. Plans sold on

CA SB 890 (Alquist)

There is a current California Senate Bill (SB 890) which I find intriguing.SB 890 is currently under consideration and, if implemented ahead of full reform, would drastically change the landscape of individual health insurance in California.Essentially, the bill would require all health insurance companies to offer a "standardized" portfolio of plans which would be limited to 5 PPO plans and 5

California Moving Forward With Reform

According to a Mercury News article today, the California Legislature is moving forward with several reform bills in the coming weeks.The legislation, which may include as many as 20 bills, would, amongst other things, create state health insurance exchanges, do away with denials for pre-existing health conditions, extend coverage to children and uncap benefit limits on health plans.Governor

Health Exchanges and Independent Agents

I am hearing and reading so much lately from the health insurance agent community about the future of agents under healthcare reform. Specifically as relates to the health insurance exchanges set for 2014. A minority believe that independent agents will have a place in the system while a majority, it seems, are suffering from "Chicken Little Syndrome". Truthfully, no one knows yet what place

Large Companies Contemplate Dropping Employee Health Coverage

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that several very large companies "have concluded that they might be financially better off canceling their health care coverage and moving their workers to government-subsidized exchanges that will be available in four years".At least four companies have investigated to varying degrees the impact of dropping health care coverage and pushing their workers onto

Temporary Risk Pool (California)

Just a quick update on one of the provisions of healthcare reform that goes into effect in September--the temporary risk pools for the uninsurable who have 6 months or more uninsured (and are uninsurable).Each state was given the option to use a federal risk pool (HHS) or, if that state has its own risk pool, to use the state program and receive federal $$ for it ($5 Billion earmarked for these

This Is What Happens When You Don't Read The Bill!

I guess someone forgot to tell the administration and those who voted for health insurance reform to actually read the bill. The current bill signed into law yesterday does not, in fact, provide guaranteed-issue health insurance coverage from children this year, sort of. I assume this will be fixed but we will have to wait and see.Gap in law for children's healthcare protection

Impact - MLRs (Medical Loss Ratios)

I am watching President Obama sign the new health insurance (care) reform bill on CNN. I wanted to share some things I have heard recently that may eventually impact the number of carriers in California selling individual and family plans either through exchanges or privately, or both.While carriers (insurance companies) can boast an overall MLR (medical loss ratio) above 85%, this number is

Health Insurance Reform Has Passed

In a very close vote, HR 3590 was passed this evening 219-212.

Health Insurance Reform - What To Expect

Happy Sunday to you all. I am watching the House vote and waiting for the final determination on the Health Insurance (Health Care) Reform Bill.Since I have received many questions concerning changes I thought I'd quickly summarize here what to expect initially if/when this Bill is passed and signed into law today.During the first year you can expect:Pre-Existing Conditions - The Bill includes

Medicare You Can Buy Into Act - Grayson (D-FL)

Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida has authored H.R. 4789. The Bill, titled "Medicare You Can Buy Into Act" or "Public Option Act", would open up Medicare enrollment to US residents of all ages 19 and above. The link below is for this bill, which is only four pages long.Read The Bill Here