Many Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance deadlines have already been delayed, mostly surrounding the Large Group Employer Mandate, now postponed until 2015 and 2016, depending on group size. The most recent extension has created confusion surrounding whether groups can keep their current plans beyond their 2014 renewal date. We all remember hearing during the ACA rollout that “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.” However, groups are finding out with their 2014 renewals that this is not the case, that their current plans are being discontinued, and therefore they must choose new plans that are ACA-compliant.
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Perhaps in response to negative reactions from the public, in November of 2013 the federal government announced a one-year transition relief period, during which groups could continue offering their current non-compliant plans. The March 5, 2014, an announcement extended that relief to 2 years. So now that groups have another 2 years to transition to ACA-compliant plans, your current plans are fine, right?
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Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
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At the time of the initial delay back in November, CMS provided guidance that at the option of each state, health insurance carriers could continue to offer non-compliant policies through October 1, 2016. However, only about half the states opted to grant extensions for offering non-compliant policies.
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The Colorado Division of Insurance was quick to say that they would not elect the extension, and therefore plan renewals in 2014 would have to be transitioned over to ACA-compliant coverage as planned. The reason is likely due to the large time and effort already spent by the DOI and carriers to create benefits and pricing for their new ACA-compliant plans. The carriers hadn’t planned on being able to offer non-compliant plans any longer, so they did not calculate pricing for them. It didn’t make sense to the DOI to put aside all the work they had already done, and focus back on plans that will eventually be obsolete.
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As a result, in Colorado and many other states, the delay has no impact. The plans available when first moving to a new carrier, as well as your renewals, will include only ACA-compliant plans.
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