Health care reform update: If you like your health insurance plan, you CAN'T keep it.
In the long and acrimonious health care debate, nestled among the half truths (reform will cut the deficit), and outright lies (death panels!) was this claim: "Hey don't worry! If you like the health plan you have now, you can keep it." I was skeptical then, and I'm more skeptical now. Two separate national surveys of employers suggest that most businesses expect to lose their health plans' grandfathered status in the near future. Turns out most businesses see sacrificing flexibility and cost-control as too high a price to pay to avoid complying with the requirements of health care reform.
National surveys conducted by Hewitt Associates and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) both found that the vast majority of employers expect to make plan changes, including shifts in benefits and increases in employee costs, that will in effect revoke their grandfathered status.
What this means for employees is that they will experience both the up- and downsides of reform much sooner than they were led to believe. The elimination of gender differences and the reduction in allowable age bands will lower rates for some, but raise them for others. My concern is that youngest and healthiest are likely to see the biggest bumps, making the penalties for not carrying coverage look a whole lot cheaper than paying for insurance. And since acceptance for coverage is now guaranteed, these young folks can always buy it later if they get sick or have an accident. Insurers already call this demographic "the invincibles" because many think they are immune to health problems.
If this is the predominant trend, hold on to your wallets. Because the remaining folks in the system -- we sicker, older folks -- will end up picking up the slack. Unless I miss my guess, the politicians will blame insurers for this. But the problem is actually hard-wired into the reform package for which they are still taking bows.
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You nailed it .Great article
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