This is a question we hear a lot.
If you currently have health insurance, your plan fits into one of two categories:
- Grandfathered plans: policies purchased before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and still active. For more information on grandfathered plans click here.
- Non-grandfathered plans: policies purchased on or after March 23, 2010, with coverage active before January 1, 2014. Because these plans were purchased after ACA became law, but before many of the law’s requirements went into effect, they won’t necessarily include all of the mandated provisions and will therefore need to be changed by their 2014 renewal date.
If you get your insurance through your employer, ask your Benefits Manager what the company is doing to ensure compliance with the new law.
If you purchase your own insurance:
- You MUST change health insurance plans if you have a non-grandfathered plan that does not fully comply with the new law. Some insurance carriers are offering early renewal, extending the current coverage as far into 2014 as possible. For more information on early renewal click here.
- If your current plan does not need to be changed (because it is a grandfathered plan), you may still WISH to change plans if there is something about your current plan that you don’t like.
And, of course, if you do not have health insurance at this time, you MUST be covered by an ACA-compliant plan by January 1, 2014. Open enrollment begins on October 1, 2013.
Confused? Don’t be! Give us a call and we will help you sort it out!
