Three Major Health Insurors To Continue Popular Provisions of Healthcare Reform – No Matter What Supreme Court Decides
No matter what the Supreme Court decides, at least three major insurers promise to continue following some of the more popular rules in the federal health law that are already in effect. The announcements were made as speculation over the fate of the health care law heightens in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling
According to Kaiser Health News, United Healthcare, which covers about 26 million people in plans that could be affected by the regulations, said it would allow young adult children to stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26, would not reinstate lifetime limits on coverage and would continue to offer cancer screenings and other preventive services without a co-payment. It would maintain a third-party appeals process for treatment denials and would not cancel policies retroactively – even if the Supreme Court overturns the law.
Humana said it would continue those same provisions. And Aetna said it would retain the young adult provision, the preventive care benefits and a third-party appeals program. The Aetna announcement did not include a reference to lifetime limits on coverage.
These consumer provisions score high on public opinion polls, even among people who say they don’t like the overall law. None of the insurers made any comment about other significant provisions in the law, such as the requirement that in 2014 they stop rejecting applicants with pre-existing medical conditions.
The announcements were widely seen by policy experts as good public relations moves by the insurers, which are likely hearing from consumers worried that a court decision could mean their adult children would not remain on their policies or they might lose access to preventive services.