Health Insurers applaud open enrollment period for kids’ coverage
The Obama administration said on Tuesday that there will be a limited sign-up periods for the new insurance coverage available to children regardless of medical problems.
The health insurance industry has won the concession after some insurers started stopping new coverage for kids because they were wary that parents would simply wait until their kids got sick to enroll them in coverage.
Part of President’s Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law, insurers are prohibited from excluding kids with pre-existing conditions starting this year. Insurers, worried that parents will wait until kids get sick to sign them up, just decided not to offer them to prevent unpredictable costs.
Nearly 10,000 new policies that only cover children are issued annually by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. The company estimates that the new policy to guarantee coverage for children could raise premiums for other individual policy holders by as much as 20 percent.
"We believe that the majority of people who would buy this policy were going to use it immediately, probably for high cost claims," said Kammer. "Guaranteed issue means you could technically buy it on the way to the hospital."
Insurance companies and state insurance commissioners have been pressing the federal government to require an open enrollment period for the guaranteed children's coverage.
The Obama administration now added that insurers can limit the sign-up to an "open enrollment" period, for example, December 1 to December 31 for plans that start January 1.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it's "extremely pleased" with the decision.
"We think this policy will ensure that children get the comprehensive coverage they need while avoiding this unintended consequence," Scott P. Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, said in a statement. "This is consistent with other public and private health insurance programs."
Final regulations for the new children's coverage are due before Sept. 23.