Insurers rally to support provisions of Affordable Care Act
The future of health care reform currently resides in the hands of the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court is expected to levy a judgment as to whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional or not this month, which is expected to have a major impact on the state of the country’s health insurance industry and health care reform initiatives. Many consumers have expressed disdain for the law because of a provision concerning mandatory health insurance. The law holds various other provisions that are designed to benefit consumers, however, and some of the country’s largest insurance companies are unwilling to let these benefits vanish if the Supreme Court decides to overturn the law.
Insurers believe that some provisions are too beneficial to be ignored
The UnitedHealth Group, Humana Inc., and Aetna Inc., have announced that they will continue to allow young people to stay on the health insurance plans of their parents until the age of 26. The companies will also continue to offer a new process for those to appeal coverage denial as well as provide consumers with preventative benefits at no out-of-pocket cost. Though health care reform may be faced with an uncertain future, these three health insurance companies believe that some of the benefits the Affordable Care Act has brought to consumers are too good to let slip away.
Humana and UnitedHealth to provide coverage for those with pre-existing conditions
UnitedHealth and Human have also announced that they will continue to honor the health care reform law’s ban on lifetime maximums for benefit payouts. The companies, whose health insurance policies cover millions of Americans, note that they will not deny new clients based on pre-existing medical conditions, unless these clients were found to purposefully mislead the companies.
Medical loss ratio may not be upheld by insurers if law is dismantled
These companies have chosen some of the most consumer-friendly provisions of the health care reform law to maintain, but have also decided that some of the law’s provisions will be abandoned if it is dismantled. One of these provisions pertains to the coverage of children with pre-existing medical conditions. The three companies have also not clarified whether they would adhere to the health care reform law’s medical loss ratio provision, which requires them to spend no less than 80% of the money they collect through premiums on improving medical care.
