California, with over 1 million canceled health policies due to Obamacare, has formally rejected Obama’s so-called fix.
Via The L.A. Times:
Spurning President Obama’s plan for canceled policies, California’s health insurance exchange voted against any extension for about 1 million policyholders in the state.The five-member board of the exchange voted unanimously to keep its current requirement that insurers terminate most individual policies Dec. 31 because they don’t meet all the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.The decision ends a weeklong drama over what would happen for policyholders who will lose their existing coverage at year-end and face finding replacement insurance that may cost them substantially more in many instances.Covered California, the state exchange, considered allowing renewals into 2014 as Obama proposed or a short-term extension through March to give people more time to shop.But state leaders ultimately rejected those options. They expressed concerns about further confusing consumers and worried that widespread renewals could keep too many healthy customers out of the broader risk pool that will shape future rates.
At the same time, the California Health Exchange released figures purporting to show great progress is signing up new enrollees, close to 3000 a day, but the numbers are dwarfed by the scope of policy cancellations.
While the federal health-insurance exchange continues to be bogged down by problems, California’s state health exchange is gaining momentum, according to new figures released by the state Thursday.As of Nov. 19, nearly 80,000 Californians had selected a private health plan, as enrollments more than doubled since the beginning of the month. Enrollment rates rose to about 2,700 per day in the second week of November from 700 per day in the initial week after the Covered California exchange opened Oct. 1, the state said….
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