The health policy extension fight continues to split state insurance commissioners, create divisions within states and keep analysts busy.
Members of the board of Covered California voted unanimously Thursday to stick to a decision to ask carriers to cancel all policies that fail to meet Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act quality standards by Dec. 31, 2013. The PPACA standards are set to take effect Jan. 1.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones had asked carriers in the state to let individual and small-group policies that fail to meet PPACA standards stay in place in 2014, in accord with a non-PPACA policy extension proposal the Obama administration released last week.
The Covered California board believes sticking with the original cancellation deadline will help protect consumers from having to meet two plan deductibles and help carriers stabilize the individual market risk pool, exchange officials said.
Covered California will try to ease the effects of any exchange program problems by pushing the enrollment deadline for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1 back to Dec. 23, from Dec. 15, and the payment deadline to Jan. 5, from Dec. 26, officials said.
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