Post by Logan on Jan 19, 2016 23:02:19 GMT -6
Bowing to pressure from insurers, federal officials on Tuesday tightened the conditions under which people can sign up for plans on the HealthCare.gov exchange outside open enrollment.
The move by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services comes after complaints by health insurers that it was too easy for people to wait until they were sick to sign up and to drop coverage after they got treatment. Earlier Tuesday, UnitedHealth announced a 19% drop in profit and downgraded its earnings forecast citing concerns about its Obamacare enrollment and the flexibility people had to change insurance plans.
CMS announced it would eliminate six more "special enrollment period" categories, a month after dropping the one that allowed people to enroll late if they became surprised by the penalty they face for not having insurance at tax time. This year, special periods will not be allowed for people, including non-citizens who had errors in their premium tax credits and others who weren't aware of mistakes or eligibility. .
The state and federal exchanges have to work well for consumers, but they also "must be attractive for insurance companies that offer plans on it," said HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan in a blog post late Tuesday.
Continued at www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/19/feds-tighten-when-people-can-enroll-obamacare-plans/79022462/#cx_ab_test_id=21&cx_ab_test_variant=cx_collab_ctx&cx_art_pos=3&cx_navSource=arttop&cx_tag=collabctx&cx_rec_type=collabctx&cx_ctrl_comp_grp=false&cxrecs_s .
The move by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services comes after complaints by health insurers that it was too easy for people to wait until they were sick to sign up and to drop coverage after they got treatment. Earlier Tuesday, UnitedHealth announced a 19% drop in profit and downgraded its earnings forecast citing concerns about its Obamacare enrollment and the flexibility people had to change insurance plans.
CMS announced it would eliminate six more "special enrollment period" categories, a month after dropping the one that allowed people to enroll late if they became surprised by the penalty they face for not having insurance at tax time. This year, special periods will not be allowed for people, including non-citizens who had errors in their premium tax credits and others who weren't aware of mistakes or eligibility. .
The state and federal exchanges have to work well for consumers, but they also "must be attractive for insurance companies that offer plans on it," said HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan in a blog post late Tuesday.
Continued at www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/19/feds-tighten-when-people-can-enroll-obamacare-plans/79022462/#cx_ab_test_id=21&cx_ab_test_variant=cx_collab_ctx&cx_art_pos=3&cx_navSource=arttop&cx_tag=collabctx&cx_rec_type=collabctx&cx_ctrl_comp_grp=false&cxrecs_s .