ACA’s ‘Catastrophic’ Coverage Flies Under Radar
By KYLE CHENEY | 11/11/13 5:04 AM EST
President Barack Obama promised to find ways to help people whose health plans have been canceled and are scrambling for an affordable alternative.
For some of them, there may be an option: a little-known, little-discussed slimmed-down Obamacare “catastrophic” health plan.
But it, too, is caught up in the HealthCare.gov mess. People don’t know about it, have trouble finding out about it — and can’t yet tap into it because of a gap in the sign-up process. Plus, health policy experts note that it might not help all that many people — and could divert people from the main insurance plans needed to make Obamacare sustainable.
The first barrier is just finding out about it.
“Presumably, people would be able to get that as soon as the [enrollment system] is working,” said Tim Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University and expert on the Affordable Care Act. “That’s probably why they’re not pushing it real hard right now.”
But given that it may help some families whose insurance costs have skyrocketed, “it is kind of surprising that they’re not talking about that,” added Jost. Cancellation stories are being reported widely and adding to the air of crisis around the rollout.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/obamacare-coverage-flies-under-radar-99635.html#ixzz2kMFhwhFR
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