California Coverage Purchasing Plan Begins in October 2014 as SC Upholds Obamacare

Following the Supreme Court decision to uphold the constitutionality of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Peter Lee, the director of the California’s Health Benefit Exchange—which will oversee the marketplace that will start to carry by 2014 subsidized health insurance for Californians—announced that the state is now putting together a system that should make it as easy to buy health insurance "as buying a book on Amazon or shoes on Zappos"—and give good business to health insurance professionals, as well to life insurance agents (professionals who have a lifeinsurance license) down the line. 

"People want to put the politics aside and make healthcare work for all Californians," Lee said. California was the first state to create a benefit exchange, which each state must do now under ACA.

Lee pointed out that most Californians who have no coverage from their employer or from Medicare or Medi-Cal will be eligible for sliding-scale subsidies, making individual insurance policies affordable. Tellingly, the subsidies will be open to individuals and families with incomes up to four times the federal poverty guidelines. 

Pre-enrollment begins for consumers who wish to purchase their coverage via the exchange in October 2013, with the maximum income level for eligibility at $93,000 for a family of four. The goal, Lee emphasized, will be to attract "as many of the individuals who are eligible for subsidized care into the exchange as we can."

 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s upholding all but one provision of the ACA has given a major boost to insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare providers.

GlobalData, a healthcare intelligence provider, suggests that though it is still premature to tag the political party that benefits most from White House’s victory at the Supreme Court, it certainly is not too early—or too difficult—to see that the affirmation is also a big win for the healthcare industry, including life insurance agents (professionals who have a life insurance license) all over the country. "First and most importantly, the ACA has always been a means for boosting the healthcare industry due simply to a huge influx of people who did not previously have access to healthcare," said Dr. Jerry Isaacson, an analyst at GlobalData. "These individuals are sure to require doctor visits and will take more drugs than they otherwise would have, not to mention buying health insurance for the first time."

The ACA expands Medicaid in a big way by including the lowest-income Americans, a feature that was challenged for its constitutionality before the Supreme Court ruling. The expansion will allow coverage for the first time for poor Americans who do not have children, in addition to current Medicaid coverage for disabled Americans and poor families. States, however, will have the option not to participate in the Medicaid expansion without pain of penalty.