Oregon insurance commissioner rejects Obama proposal to delay cancellation of health policies

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Oregon anticipated Obama's announcement and issued their decision yesterday. Or is the Commissioner racist?

11/12/13, "Oregon insurance commissioner says state won't delay 2013 health coverage cancellations," oregonlive.com, Nick Budnick

"State regulators have rejected an idea to push back the cancellation dates of more than 140,000 Oregonians' health insurance policies despite public confusion and momentum among California officials and some national Democratic Party leaders to do so.

Cancellations of policies around the country due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have sparked a national furor as many consumers have found they'll pay higher premiums in 2014. 

On Tuesday former President Bill Clinton publicly called for changing the law to let people keep their health coverage and was quickly echoed by some Congressional Democrats. Meanwhile, California regulators have pushed back two insurers' cancellation dates, citing lack of adequate warning to consumers.

But despite confidential discussions over the last week between insurance executives and top state officials of potential changes that included a mandatory three-month delay of cancellations, Oregon Insurance Commissioner Laura Cali has decided against the idea for now due to logistical difficulties.

In an already confusing time, "we think that adding more communication, different options, changing dates could possibly be confusing and actually I think make this more difficult," Cali said.
Insurers have always had the option to leave existing health policies in place through March 31, but most chose Dec. 31 instead, state officials say.

The Oregon meetings focused on how carriers could assist a backup plan to process Cover Oregon application forms manually instead of online. People must enroll by Dec. 15 to have coverage in place by Jan. 1, so the state is scrambling to help people complete applications to the state's hobbled health exchange, which offers income-based tax credits and other subsidies.

But in a meeting last week some insurers expressed interest in giving more time to insurance consumers across the market – not just those interested in Cover Oregon. Currently, most policies will be canceled Dec. 31 because they don't meet new federal standards. But some insurers were hoping to push the date back to March 31, and the group discussed whether the state should make it mandatory.

Other insurers pushed back on the idea. "I really got a range of feedback from a number of carriers about this," Cali said.

Oregon Health Authority Director Bruce Goldberg, who participated in the meetings, said changes in insurer networks and deductibles made it hard to consider the move. He said it sounded doable at first, participants "have been realizing some of the intricacies of making something like that happen."

Calis said that while the idea is not necessarily dead, "I think right now we have a responsibility to the broader market," adding that some consumers are already shopping on the 2014 market and "like some of their options."

Several insurance executives declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of the discussions.

Tim Raphael, a Kitzhaber spokesman, declined to provide a comment on the negotiations other than to say the governor is focused on getting people enrolled in the state's health exchange and "making the paper application process work."" via Free Republic


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