Why are people saying their Health Insurance is Cancelled on Jan. 1? Help me understand

[barbiegeek]

Why are people writing they are losing their health insurance with their employer? I'm confused and I don't think they are joking or lying.

[Whisp]

1. a scare tactic, most likely.

I believe that nothing changes on your insurance if you don't change it yourself.

You have to make the move. Obama said many times, you can keep what you have and nothing changes or you can look around and see if you can get a better deal.

It's r/w scare tactics and disgruntled 'others'.

[barbiegeek]

3. No, I don't think he'd lie. He is sick though and an electrician. He has been trying to get on

disability. He has cancer tumors on his spine.

[Whisp]

8. I did misunderstand you. Sorry.

I hope your friend gets good advice and help. I think he has a good chance for that.

[barbiegeek]

15. It's ok, I was unclear. I just want to help if I can. Thank you for your reply

[winter is coming]

2. I'm afraid you'll have to get the details from the people telling you that.

As in, who told them they're losing insurance? A letter from their employer? A meeting their HR department set up? Or is it a rumor they heard?

[barbiegeek]

6. All I know is he has cancer and has tried to get on disability

[winter is coming]

11. I'm sorry to hear that. From what a lot of people have said, getting on disability can be

quite a struggle. Does he live in a state that's expanding Medicaid or would he qualify for a subsidy (income is 100% to 400% of FPL)?

[barbiegeek]

13. Arizona-- I'm to chicken to ask him to many questions just yet. I'm waiting and will offer help if I

can.

[winter is coming]

18. Here's a possible explanation as to why his coverage is "ending on January 1,2014".

From http://kff.org/medicaid/fact-sheet/medicaid-eligibility-for-adults-as-of-january-1-2014/

And here's a link to the full pdf:
http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/8497-medicaid-eligibility-for-adults-as-of-010114_v4.pdf

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands Medicaid to adults with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting January 1, 2014. While the Medicaid expansion was intended to occur nationwide, the Supreme Court ruling on the ACA effectively made it a state option. As of September 2013, 25 states, including DC are moving forward with the expansion and 26 states are not currently moving forward. Regardless of state Medicaid expansion decisions, all states must implement new eligibility and enrollment processes, including a transition to determine income eligibility for most groups using Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). This fact sheet provides Medicaid income limits for parents and childless adults as of January 2013, and the new income limits that will be in effect as of January 1, 2014, providing insight into eligibility increases for parents and other adults that will occur in states expanding Medicaid and coverage gaps that will remain for poor adults in states not moving forward with the expansion at this time.

And it looks like Arizona will be expanding Medicaid, so if your friend's income is 400% FPL or less, he should be able to get some financial help.

[jberryhill]

4. What people?

[barbiegeek]

9. 2 old school friends-an electrician and a plumber

[jberryhill]

19. And where do they get their current insurance?

Are they self-employed, insured through and employer, what?

[barbiegeek]

21. 1is self employed other it's a small/medium size business

[bigwillq]

5. So many people have no idea about the ACA

They need to start informing themselves.

[City Lights]

7. I received notification that mine will expire on 5-1-2014.

We are self-employed and purchase our own insurance. The insurance company said it's because the current certificate we have is not compliant with the ACA. They said we can explore the exchanges or re-apply directly through them.

[kestrel91316]

14. That's good. You won't be stuck with a grandfathered worthless POS policy.

Check out the exchange for your state. But remember that open enrollment ends in March. Not sure what you situation would be come May, you could have to wait until next October to get insured (though that doesn't seem right).

[City Lights]

16. We aren't waiting until May and are looking into other options now.

Well, trying to look into other options. So far I haven't had much luck. I'm going to wait a week or so hoping the website isn't as overloaded.

[Cerridwen]

10. Ignorance of what's happening with ACA, perhaps.

Note I said ignorance which is a lack of knowledge.

Most people just listening in are going to hear conflicting stories all over. I've tried to keep up and even I get confused about it at times. I wasn't sure of the state exchange websites during the fed shutdown, as one example.

A lot of it is still that we won't know exactly how things work until it's been working for a while. Sort of the shakedown flight version of a new insurance system.

[MadrasT]

12. There are a number of existing policies

that are not compliant with the ACA.

[The Straight Story]

17. Could simply be

Many companies you have to re-enroll each year and the company they are working for is not renewing that company as an option (for any number of reasons).

Here is a link:

What happens to my current health insurance plan in 2014?

[MiniMe]

20. I would guess that the companies were planning on cutting off the insurance anyway

Now they have an excuse.

[alc]

22. not enough information

You will see man "success" and "scare" stories from both sides over the next few months and they may are all be true.

In this case there are many possibilities:

* the employer decided that the penalty is better than providing insurance. the employer would have liked to do it anyway but now has an excuse (not honest but they'll say "congress passed the ACA and gave us the option of paying a tax instead of insurance so we are doing that and you can get a plan that better fits your needs the way congress wanted&quot

* the ACA has changed restrictions in some states. So certain plans are no longer legal (actually most are legal but don't count as qualified ACA plans so the employer would need to pay the tax to). The employer may have had one of these plans before and decided the qualified plans are too expensive.

* The employer's HR department sucks and couldn't find insurance they could afford so decided to pay the tax (which it doesn't need to do for 2014 any how) Or the CEO gave up because of all the HR effort insurance takes. Now he doesn't need to pay for insurance OR those HR resources. Plus he doesn't need to worry about changes, or problems, or premium increases in the future.

* the employer is lying. the employee is confused. miscommunication or misunderstanding somewhere

[roamer65]

23. I fully expect my employer to drop employer-based coverage next year.

...and I welcome it. There will be much more choice on the exchange.

[Barack_America]

24. Could be their current policy isn't ACA-compliant. Nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. In my case I am losing my Medicaid on that date. Our Teapublican governor turned down the expansion.

Not sure about the employer situation for others.

[pnwmom]

26. If you are already receiving Medicaid, why would you be harmed

by the lack of an expanded program in your state?

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Maine was in an unusual situation in that we were enrolling people who were

at 200% of Federal Poverty level. When LePage approached the Feds about not doing the expansion, he also asked that he be allowed to drop the percentage back to 133 %, in line with other states. My family is one of those that was above the new level, so off we go. Am trying to get some info on plans from the exchange now.

[pnwmom]

28. Lepage is nasty. I'm so sorry this happened to you.

These people have no limits, do they?

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Thank you. :) Hoping we vote him out, but it looks like it will be

a mostly 3 way race again, so it could happen again.

[MurrayDelph]

30. The OMIP program in Oregon is going away 1/1/14

It was a program for otherwise uninsurable people.

As a diabetic with an artificial knee, this was my only option.

When the ACA coverage starts, my rates will go down $600/month (for a family of two) for equivalent coverage, or $300/month if I want to upgrade to un-sucky coverage.