Amended Senate Bill Includes Waiting Period for Those Who Let Coverage Lapse

On June 26, 2017, the Republican Leadership released an amended version of the Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act.  It is very similar to the version they released on June 22, but includes two changes. First, it amends a couple of provisions of the stability and innovation funds section to allow both short and long-term funds to be used to purchase health insurance benefits.  This was apparently done to align the program more closely with the CHIP program.  The stability and innovation fund is being created through the CHIP program, reportedly so as to incorporate CHIP’s abortion funding restrictions. Second, it makes a significant change with respect to individual market requirements. The original Senate bill repealed the individual mandate but left nothing in its place to encourage healthy people to enroll in the individual market.  The House bill had included provisions that imposed a premium surcharge for a year on people with a gap in coverage during the preceding year, while the MacArthur amendment would have allowed states to permit insurers to health status underwrite individuals who had a gap in coverage.  The Congressional budget office predicted that the enrollment penalty would discourage healthy people from enrolling and that the health status underwriting option could allow healthy people to opt out of community rating and destabilize insurance markets. The new Senate amendment would allow an insurer in the individual market to impose a waiting period ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage ACA repeal and replace coverage gap waiting period Source Type: blogs