Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones continues to wage not only a regulatory turf battle with Covered California over the issue of policy cancellations, he is also waging a war of words. No sooner had the California Health Benefits Board voted to continue with the planned cancellation of health plans for December 31st, Commissioner Jones fired off a press release to announce how unhappy he was at the Board of Covered California. See also The real reasons plans are being cancelled.
Jones calls out Covered California
In his media statement Commissioner Jones implies that Covered California has thumbed its nose at the President.
“Over a million Californians have received cancellation notices from their health insurer. On behalf of these policyholders I am disappointed in Covered California’s action, which denies individuals and families the opportunity to keep their existing health insurance as President Obama promised.
“Covered California rejected what President Obama and I asked for—that individual policyholders be allowed to keep their existing health insurance through all of 2014. Covered California’s decision denies Californians the same opportunity health insurers are giving to its small business customers who are being allowed to renew current policies throughout 2014.
“Covered California could have honored President Obama’s request, without causing damage to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or the Exchange.
“The preferred and more equitable course of action for California consumers is for Covered California’s unnecessary cancellation to be rescinded. Allowing existing policyholders to keep their health insurance for the duration of 2014 will not undermine the implementation of the ACA, but rather will give consumers more time to figure out what makes sense for their families.” – Commissioner Jones
Covered California fires back
The Jones announcement was released at 3:45 and by 4:00 pm Covered California had crafted its own spin on the Boards action.
“As consumer enrollment continues to grow, the Covered California™ Board unanimously voted today to uphold its Dec. 31, 2013, deadline for health insurance companies to discontinue plans that don’t meet basic standards. The board cited that extending the deadline offers no benefit to the consumer and may create confusion about accessing affordable health care coverage through Covered California. – Dave Jones
The board, consistent with President Barack Obama’s recommendations, also urged Covered California staff to implement helpful tools for consumers currently enrolled in affected plans, to better understand their options.
The decision to maintain the original deadline also confirms the state exchange’s commitment to transitioning Californians into plans that are compliant with the reforms of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, protecting consumers from double deductibles and stabilizing the risk pool to control costs for consumers beginning in 2014.” – Covered California
Super Consumer Jones
Jones is positioning himself as super consumer advocate while casting Covered California in a negative light at best. But where was Jones when the Covered California Board voted to insert the December 31 plan cancellation language into the agreement this past spring? For whatever reason, Jones has decided to go to war with Covered California over who will control the health insurance market place.
Insurance companies very, very quiet
The insurance companies are stuck between two quarreling regulators. Jones has leveraged existing law to force Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California to extend their plans to at least March 31, 2014, because neither insurer gave their members proper notification. If the insurers extend their policies past December 31, they will be in violation their contract with Covered California.
Who will blink? Who will win?
The insurance companies would just as soon cancel the plans and move forward. But they don’t want to irritate the Insurance Commissioner since he regulates their business. Just like little children incredibly quiet while their two parents argue and scream at one another, the insurance companies are staying neutral and making no comments. Some one has to blink in December. Will it be Dave Jones or Covered California?
Blessing in disguise
Jones may actually being doing the consumers a favor by having them avoid a sluggish Covered California enrollment system. Applicants through Covered California are waiting weeks before they hear if their application is approved or if additional documents are needed. I have one client who just received a Covered California letter requesting verification of her citizenship.
Covered California is not consumer friendly
Some people in California may consider Minnesota to be a foreign country, but she really was born in the U.S.A. The real kicker is this grandmother, who was just trying to replace a policy cancelled by Aetna, wasn’t even applying for premium assistance so there is no reason to request a copy of her birth certificate. There is no path around all the intrusive income questions if you just want to purchase a health plan through Covered California without premium assistance.
Extending deadlines to fix problems
In an effort to look like they are addressing Commissioner Jones’ and the Presidents concerns, Covered California tacked on this information to their press release.
“Additionally, Covered California is implementing five key strategies to sustain, if not increase, its enrollment momentum and help affected consumers:
- Extending the deadline for enrollment for coverage taking effect on Jan. 1, 2014, from Dec. 15, 2013, to Dec. 23, 2013, and extending the deadline for payments due from Dec. 26, 2013, to Jan. 5, 2014.
- Establishing a telephone hotline for consumers to resolve enrollment questions. The hotline,(855) 857-0445, will be available beginning Monday, Nov. 25.
- Sending information directly to nearly 1.13 million affected individuals that provides clear options for coverage. The information will be sent from Covered California and the individual’s current insurance provider.
- Collecting and reporting data, on a regular basis, showing the impacts of conversion for individuals.
- Engaging consumers in their communities through the thousands of Certified Insurance Agents, Certified Enrollment Counselors and Certified Educators now deployed statewide.” – Covered California
Santa Claus is coming to town
The extension of the filing deadline means nothing when they are currently taking weeks to turn around applications and get them back to the health plans. Unless Covered California has hired Santa Claus and his elves to work some magic late in December, pushing the deadline to enroll for a January effective date is only going to create more broken promises.
I’ve been deployed
The bullet point that frosted my buttons was how Covered California is “deploying” thousands of Certified Agents and Enrollment Counselors to “engage” communities. First, the only thing they have deployed is a website that doesn’t work for either the enrollers or agents. Second, as of November 19th, there were only 1,408 Enrollment Counselors. A total of 6,714 health insurance agents had clawed their way through the cumbersome and often irrelevant training to become certified. And most of the agents only want to work with the SHOP program and want nothing to do with the individual market of Covered California.
Is Jones running for Governor?
It’s embarrassing to watch Commissioner Jones grandstand over the policy cancellations. Technically he must understand that the plans are not included in the promise of “If you like your plan, you can keep it” because these plans were issued after the ACA was signed. It’s equally frustrating to see Covered California completely gloss over their website deficiencies and paint this picture that everything is beautiful.
Perhaps it is good that Jones has decided to spar with Peter Lee and Covered California. It might make Covered California deliver what they promised. But when politics gets involved, nobody wins, least of all the consumer.
Full Media Release of Commissioner Jones statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 21, 2013 (#100)
MEDIA STATEMENT
Insurance Commissioner Jones calls Covered California’s extension denial
a disservice to policyholders
Allowing Californians to keep their health insurance through 2014 won’t
undermine implementation of the ACA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued the following statement in response to Covered California’s decision to deny health insurers the ability to renew existing policies:
“Over a million Californians have received cancellation notices from their health insurer. On behalf of these policyholders I am disappointed in Covered California’s action, which denies individuals and families the opportunity to keep their existing health insurance as President Obama promised.
“Covered California rejected what President Obama and I asked for—that individual policyholders be allowed to keep their existing health insurance through all of 2014. Covered California’s decision denies Californians the same opportunity health insurers are giving to its small business customers who are being allowed to renew current policies throughout 2014.
“Covered California could have honored President Obama’s request, without causing damage to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or the Exchange.
“The preferred and more equitable course of action for California consumers is for Covered California’s unnecessary cancellation to be rescinded. Allowing existing policyholders to keep their health insurance for the duration of 2014 will not undermine the implementation of the ACA, but rather will give consumers more time to figure out what makes sense for their families.”
Commissioner Jones has been a staunch supporter of the ACA since its passage and throughout its implementation. Last week President Obama called on states and insurers to allow existing policyholders the option to renew their plans for an additional year. Commissioner Jones expressed his support of the President’s request and asked that Covered California rescind its contractual provision with 11 insurers, which impeded their ability to honor the President’s request.
As the state’s insurance market regulator, Jones has made it clear that neither state nor federal law, including the ACA, requires December 31 cancellations. More than 1 million Californians are receiving cancellation notices from insurers, who are upset because they were told by the President if they liked their health insurance, they could keep it. Jones pointed out that all existing policies are not “junk insurance.” California has strong coverage mandates, as demonstrated by the many policyholders who want to keep their existing policies and doctors. Jones noted that it is disingenuous for health insurers to argue that allowing renewals will harm the exchange, because cancellation notices being sent to policyholders are steering them into insurance products outside the Exchange, which deprives the policyholder of the federal premium subsidy.
Jones also stressed that allowing existing policyholders to renew for a full year will not undermine the risk pool, as the ACA has robust features which mitigate the risk of health insurers having a disproportionate share of sick people in their risk pool in 2014. Additionally, it is estimated that 400,000 existing policyholders are eligible for subsidies. Even if allowed to renew their current coverage, many consumers will purchase new insurance through the Exchange because of the subsidy. For all of these reasons, the Insurance Commissioner concluded that allowing renewals would not hurt the Affordable Care Act or the Exchange, but should be allowed to make good on the promise to policyholders.
Full Press Release from Covered California on the plan cancellations
Dear Colleagues and Interested Parties:
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Media Line: (916) 205-8403 |
| Nov. 21, 2013 |
COVERED CALIFORNIA UPHOLDS ORIGINAL DEADLINE FOR ENDING HEALTH PLANS THAT DON’T MEET LAW’S STANDARDS
Strong Enrollment in New Health
Insurance Marketplace a Factor in Decision
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As consumer enrollment continues to grow, the Covered California™ Board unanimously voted today to uphold its Dec. 31, 2013, deadline for health insurance companies to discontinue plans that don’t meet basic standards. The board cited that extending the deadline offers no benefit to the consumer and may create confusion about accessing affordable health care coverage through Covered California.
The board, consistent with President Barack Obama’s recommendations, also urged Covered California staff to implement helpful tools for consumers currently enrolled in affected plans, to better understand their options.
The decision to maintain the original deadline also confirms the state exchange’s commitment to transitioning Californians into plans that are compliant with the reforms of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, protecting consumers from double deductibles and stabilizing the risk pool to control costs for consumers beginning in 2014.
Additionally, Covered California is implementing five key strategies to sustain, if not increase, its enrollment momentum and help affected consumers:
- Extending the deadline for enrollment for coverage taking effect on Jan. 1, 2014, from Dec. 15, 2013, to Dec. 23, 2013, and extending the deadline for payments due from Dec. 26, 2013, to Jan. 5, 2014.
- Establishing a telephone hotline for consumers to resolve enrollment questions. The hotline,(855) 857-0445, will be available beginning Monday, Nov. 25.
- Sending information directly to nearly 1.13 million affected individuals that provides clear options for coverage. The information will be sent from Covered California and the individual’s current insurance provider.
- Collecting and reporting data, on a regular basis, showing the impacts of conversion for individuals.
- Engaging consumers in their communities through the thousands of Certified Insurance Agents, Certified Enrollment Counselors and Certified Educators now deployed statewide.
“The consumer is front and foremost in Covered California’s policy decision process. These new strategies will provide consumers a better enrollment experience, more flexibility in the selection of a plan and, most importantly, increased knowledge with which to make the best health coverage choice possible,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee.
The board and Covered California staff discussed options for maintaining or extending the deadline after President Obama last week gave state insurance exchanges flexibility on when policies that were not grandfathered and are not compliant with the Affordable Care Act could be ended.