Association policies may limit scope of coverage

    A new health insurance option awaits consumers this fall. Proponents say it will offer lower premiums and relief from increasingly expensive Obamacare policies sold in the so-called individual market. That’s the place where people who don’t have employer- or government-sponsored insurance turn when they need coverage.
    It’s no secret that rising premiums have hurt people in that market if they are among those whom the law considers too wealthy for subsidies to help them out — for example, families of four with incomes above $100,400 and single people whose incomes exceed $48,560.
    So the Trump Administration has approved the return of association policies, called AHPs for short. Fraternal or professional organizations can sponsor one. A single proprietor or sole owner of a business can also set up one of these new arrangements.
    But these “new” arrangements are not new. They were around for years before the Affordable Care Act was passed, and they’ve been resurrected by the Trump administration to promote a low-cost option for a small slice of the insurance marketplace. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta offers this rationale: “Many of our laws, particularly Obamacare, make health care more expensive for small businesses than large companies. AHPs are about more choice, more access and more coverage.”
    Once again the individual market may become the Wild, Wild West of insurance as sellers pick and choose what benefits to offer. They can present a shopping nightmare for consumers who try to slog through the market and understand what they’re buying. Many of the protections offered by the ACA are gone, and shoppers are on their own to sort through the fine print that may or may not disclose what they are buying.
    For example, the Affordable Care Act outlawed the practice of considering a person’s pre-existing health conditions before issuing a policy, one of the most important protections it provided. Under the government’s rules for AHPs, a person’s health still cannot be factored into the decision to issue a policy.

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.