Five things to know:
1. Under the rule, Americans will be allowed to buy short-term health insurance plans that offer longer coverage. Previously, plans could only last up to three months. Coverage can now last longer, and extensions and renewals can last up to three years, depending on state decisions. The rule is slated to take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
2. State insurance regulators indicated they are worried that the marketing of short-term plans could mislead consumers, and many said the short-term plans are not a good alternative to more comprehensive, ACA-compliant ones.
3. New York prohibited the short-term plans. “We don’t want any confusion” between short-term plans and the more comprehensive coverage, Maria Vullo, New York State’s superintendent of financial services, told the Times.
4. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed legislation that limits short-term policies to less than three months. It also stipulates short-term plans can’t be extended or renewed. A similar law that limits short-term plans to three months or less, bans renewals, and calls for the state insurance commissioner to approve rates and advertising was approved in Vermont, reports the Times.
5. Meanwhile, the federal government is backing the rule, with William Brady, an associate deputy secretary at HHS, telling state officials new short-term plans could be “a great option for many Americans who were shut out of the insurance market by Obamacare’s high premiums.”
Read the full Times report here.
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