The State of California is one of the few U.S. states that did not wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the health insurance exchange and continued with its health insurance exchange implementation endeavors. With The Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act, Californians may be the first in the nation to receive the federal subsidies under the State’s health insurance exchange.
The California Health Insurance Exchange administrators are hard at work to enroll its 3 million strong state residents eligible to purchase insurance through the state exchange. Through this exchange, small employers would enjoy the same flexibility and options in group plan purchase as is currently accorded to large businesses.
The federal government had granted all the U.S. states the autonomy to design the health exchanges as deemed fit to suit the state residents’ insurance needs and local insurance markets. While individuals and employers would still have an option to purchase their insurance from a vendor outside the health insurance exchange, federal subsidies for individuals & tax credits for small employers would only be applicable if these entities purchase their plans through the exchanges.
Although 3 million individuals are purported to purchase insurance through the exchange, this number constitutes a small percentage of the entire California population. At least 80% of the California residents would continue to get their coverage through some federal program or through employer-sponsored coverage. However, residents that may have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition or due to unaffordability of plans would benefit from the State’s health insurance exchange.
The health exchanges are scheduled to fully launch in January 2014 which is the federally designated deadline for all States to set up fully operative health insurance exchanges. California is expected to be well-prepared to meet the health exchange deadline that is just a year ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment