Three major health insurance companies will stop offering new child-only plans rather than have to start accepting children with preexisting medical conditions, a new requirement in the healthcare reform law starting this week, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Representatives for WellPoint, Cigna and CoventryOne noted that with no mandate in place yet to buy insurance, parents of only the sickest children would have reason to have coverage. The rest would only need to wait until their children became sick and then the law would guarantee them a policy, regardless of preexisting conditions. This would be a money-losing proposition for insurers, which is reason they won't offer new policies for children.
The insurers would have to wait until 2014, when Americans or all ages are mandated to buy insurance, to come back into the market. However, many Republicans have called for the repeal of the insurance mandate, which is unpopular with most Americans. On the other hand, the law's preexisting insurance requirement, which starts for adults in 2014, is popular with most Americans.
Read the Washington Post report on healthcare reform.
Read more on healthcare reform.
-6 Ways Republicans Plan to Chip Away at Reform Law After Election
-What a Big GOP Victory in November Might Mean for Healthcare Reform
-GOP Leader John Boehner Calls for Repeal of Obamacare
Representatives for WellPoint, Cigna and CoventryOne noted that with no mandate in place yet to buy insurance, parents of only the sickest children would have reason to have coverage. The rest would only need to wait until their children became sick and then the law would guarantee them a policy, regardless of preexisting conditions. This would be a money-losing proposition for insurers, which is reason they won't offer new policies for children.
The insurers would have to wait until 2014, when Americans or all ages are mandated to buy insurance, to come back into the market. However, many Republicans have called for the repeal of the insurance mandate, which is unpopular with most Americans. On the other hand, the law's preexisting insurance requirement, which starts for adults in 2014, is popular with most Americans.
Read the Washington Post report on healthcare reform.
Read more on healthcare reform.
-6 Ways Republicans Plan to Chip Away at Reform Law After Election
-What a Big GOP Victory in November Might Mean for Healthcare Reform
-GOP Leader John Boehner Calls for Repeal of Obamacare