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You’ve been forced to pick your ObamaCare plan, now good luck in keeping even that [Darleen Click]

Because PR is much more important than your silly liberty

Here’s a Friday Obamacare news-dump for you: In a 300-page regulatory proposal released late this afternoon, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it is considering changing Obamacare’s auto-renewal rules so that, within the health law’s exchanges, instead of being automatically renewed into your current health plan, you’d be moved into the lowest cost plan from the same service tier.

From the attached fact sheet:

Under current rules, consumers who do not take action during the openenrollment window are re-enrolled in the same plan they were in the previous year, even if that plan experienced significant premium increases. We are considering alternative options for re-enrollment, under which consumers who take no action might be defaulted into a lower cost plan rather than their current plan.

(Fact sheet via Adrianna McIntyre; proposal first noted by Politico.)

States running their own exchanges could start doing this in 2016, and federal exchanges could start in 2017.

It’s not just auto-reenrollment. It’s auto-reassignment, at least for those who pick that option. Basically, if you like your plan, but don’t go out of your way to intentionally re-enroll, the kind and wise folks at HHS or state health exchanges might just pick a new plan—perhaps with different doctors, clinics, cost structures, and benefit options—for you. And if you want to switch back? Good luck once open enrollment is closed. There’s always next year.

A hassle? Maybe. But have faith: They know what’s best. […]

[S]ince HHS decided over the summer to institute auto-renewal, and since the majority of Obamacare enrollees are expected to take no action and thus stay in their current plans, the reality is that under the current system a lot of enrollees are likely to see large premium hikes, just because they didn’t shop around for a new plan.

They only have the purest of motives, you know. Bless their hearts.

h/t PJ Tattler

3 Replies to “You’ve been forced to pick your ObamaCare plan, now good luck in keeping even that [Darleen Click]”

  1. happyfeet says:

    we had open enrollment last week

    i’m maxing out the HSA and getting the highest deductible plan

    it feels like the right thing to do, given my options

    but i might could be missing something

  2. McGehee says:

    All together now: WE TOLD YOU SO!

  3. serr8d says:

    ACA was designed to collapse to One-Payer, so I always analyze these regulatory changes with that motive recognized as prime intent.

    “Auto” is the keyword here. That means more and more tightening tendrils, fewer options, and one step closer to Proggy nirvana.

Comments are closed.