Part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes the termination of
any transitional health insurance for individual and small businesses with 50
or fewer employees. We have been fortunate that the deadline for
this change has been extended again.
This termination will not occur until December 31, 2017.
So, wondering what all of that means? Here’s our best effort to make sense of it:
If you purchased group or individual health insurance before March
23, 2010 AND haven’t made any changes to that plan, you are on a “Grandfathered” plan. You are exempt from
all of this! Go celebrate!
If you purchased individual health insurance after March 23, 2010
but before January 2014 AND haven’t made any changes to that plan, you are on a
“Grandmothered” plan.
If you purchased group health insurance after March 23, 2010 but
before January 2014 and have made no changes or only small changes, you are on
a “Grandmothered” plan.
A Grandmothered Plan is the same as a Transitional plan.
Grandmothered = Transitional
Ok – we’ve got that part down.
Moving on to the big change:
The recent change means you can definitely keep your current plan
until at least January 1, 2018. (Assuming things don’t change again…)
However on January 1, 2018 ALL individuals and small groups that
have transitional plans will have to switch to an ACA plan. This change will occur on January 1, 2018,
NOT when you currently renew. If you are
an individual, you will need to go through the open enrollment process in November
2017. Small businesses will need to
meet with your broker before November to review your options.
Bottom line, on January 1, 2018 there is a very good chance that
your rates will increase substantially. (Don’t
kill the messenger – we are just passing along the information.)
