Politics & Government

Malloy Says 'No' to Allowing Extended Health Care Plans

Gov. Dannel Malloy says he didn't think the Affordable Care Act solution proposed by President Barack Obama — allowing consumers to return to their cancelled health care plans — would hold water in Connecticut.

"Residents of my state are frustrated about this situation and so am I," said Malloy. "The truth is that the solution offered last week won’t work for Connecticut. To those who think we should have a special session because there’s some magical way for us to fix the issue, I say you’re wrong."

Connecticut joins its neighboring states — including New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts — in rejecting the measure. Malloy defended his decision by saying 36% of consumers would not have been impacted by the president's proposal in any case, and that insurers are not obliged to allow former planholder back, or to offer them the same rates.

"Even if they changed their minds and decided to renew them, we know that rates on those plans would increase significantly this year, and again next year."

The offer "simply doesn't apply to Connecticut," according to a fact sheet from Malloy's office — the state's insurers have said they would not renew any policy which had not already been offered for renewal.

Malloy said Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman is working on building an alternate insurance exchange.

"In the weeks ahead, staff from Access Health CT and the Connecticut Department of Insurance are going to continue working with private carriers to help anyone and everyone that is losing their plan," he said. "This will include a new coordinated effort that will embed Access Health staff directly into private carriers to better coordinate these efforts."

Wyman said she was confident the exchange would work.

"While no solution is perfect for every policyholder, I believe that many of those who received cancellation notices will be able to secure quality coverage at a reasonable price through our state exchange," she said.


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