Controversy over sub-standard insurance policies in Ohio begins to brew
New controversy has been sparked in Ohio concerning health insurance coverage and the Affordable Care Act. The state’s insurance companies are letting old insurance policies that do not comply with current federal standards expire. These policies had been allowed to exist due to changes made to the Affordable Care Act in order to ensure that those that could not access the state’s insurance exchange would remain insured. Whether or not these policies would be allowed to expire in Ohio is a matter that has been left to the state’s Department of Insurance.
Regulatory bottleneck may be the reason sub-standard policies are expiring
Insurers are required to introduce new insurance policies that are more compliant with federal standards. In some cases, these new policies could be significantly more expensive than those that consumers had before their old policies expired. More expensive coverage may be due to a bottleneck at the Ohio Department of Insurance. The continued existence of sub-standard insurance policies must be approved by the state’s regulators. The problem is, however, is that regulators have been very slow in granting approval for older policies to remain active. This has left insurance companies with limited options other than allowing old policies to expire.
Regulators are concerned about the medical care implications of older policies
State officials claim that there is no bottleneck at the Department of Insurance, suggesting instead that reviewing older policies is a time consuming process and regulators want to ensure that consumers are not exposed to any undue stress over the matter. Allowing old policies to expire could be a costly issue for consumers, but allowing them to maintain their sub-standard policies could be a burden for the state’s insurers, hospitals, and consumers themselves who would not have access to certain types of medical care due to their lackluster coverage options.
Policies being introduced by insurers are more expensive than their sub-standard predecessors
Some of the policies that are being proposed by the state’s insurance companies are 160% more expensive than the sub-standard policies that consumers have currently. These policies are required to comply with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which holds that they provide coverage for a wider range of medical care, including care for mental illness and preventative care.
