Bloomberg
The President of the United States recently spoke about the new health care law.
He stated that the public does not know about the benefits of the new law. Most of Congress does not know about the benefits of the new health care law.
Anytime you have a 2,000 page law and then another 15,000 pages on explanation it may be a bit difficult to get the message out.
There are positives to the new law and there are negatives to the new law.
The positive aspect of the new law is we are going to have guaranteed issue in the individual market. In 2014, no one can be declined a individual health insurance policy. This is one of the essential parts of health care reform. It has been viewed that it is not fair for the health insurance industry to be able to cheery pick the lowest risk individuals. So a individual that need treatment of any kind will be eligible for the coverage.
The negative aspect of guaranteed issue is the premium are going to increase. The one major tool the individual market used to control cost was underwriting. Now that they no longer have that tool, they will have to increase prices to offset all the claims they are going to take on.
The health care law has a positive for the cost of the policy and that is the development of the exchange. www.indianahealthinsuranceexchange.com With in the exchange a individual or family can apply for federal subsides to help pay the premium. If you do not have access to a group health plan you may qualify for the subsidy. A family of 4 living in Indianapolis, making under $70,000 a year, could end up paying $500 a month for a policy that cost $23,000 year.
The negative aspect of the exchange is if you don’t qualify for subsidies, you may not be able to afford the premium. Thus we could see a new class of uninsured in the state and that would be the upper middle class.
There may be a real disconnect in Washington D.C. and what is really going to happen in the health insurance markets.
