Friday, September 17, 2010

Anthem Blue Cross suspending sales of Child-only plans

Ten minutes ago, I received an email from Anthem stating that they were suspending sales of child-only plans effective today, September 17. The reason cited was the uncertainty created by the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act. Adverse selection was also cited...because some carriers stopped selling child-only plans, the remaining ones were going to get saddled with the kids with medical problems.

There will be some cases when child-only plans will continue to be available:

"The suspension of child-only plans will apply to all states unless a particular state requires the offering of child-only policies. Based on state specific requirements, we will continue to offer Child-only plans in Maine and New York, and in open enrollment periods in Ohio and Virginia. Child-only plans will also be offered in those states requiring such policies for conversion and HIPAA eligible individuals. Existing policyholders will not be impacted by this action and they may continue in their current coverage."
Also unaffected are family plans where the primary subscriber is over 19.

ObamaCare strikes again...just another example of this well thought-out law.


ADDENDUM [HGS]: Bill's up early this morning, and beat me to the punch. For those who may be interested in the fine print, a pdf of the "News Flash" is available here.
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