Tavenner: Insurers "Are Not Dropping Consumers; They're Improving Their Coverage"
MARILYN TAVENNER, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administration: Plans that were in place before the Affordable Care Act passed and have not been changed in ways that substantially cut benefits or increased cost-sharing are grandfathered in and are exempt from offering most of the new consumer protections. They must notify their enrollees that they are grandfathered plans, however. And for these enrollees, nothing has to change in 2014. Some of the five-percent of Americans who currently get their insurance from the individual market have recently received notices from their insurance companies suggesting that their plans will no longer exist.
These Americans do have a choice. They can choose a different plan being offered by their insurer or they can shop for coverage in the marketplace or outside the marketplace. As insurers have made clear, they are not dropping consumers; they’re improving their coverage options, often offering better-value plans with additional benefits.
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