Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took a major step to give consumers across the country new, standardized information about their options and rights when it comes to health insurance. This effort is a direct response to the President’s concerns that the small percentage of Americans receiving confusing letters from their insurance companies need clearer information about how to keep an existing plan, or how to choose a new plan with new protections available in the health insurance marketplace.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, people with health insurance have stronger protections than ever before. This means that consumers in new health insurance plans will no longer be charged more because of gender or a pre-existing condition, there will be caps on out-of-pocket costs, and plans will have to offer a basic package of 10 categories of essential health benefits.
These new market rules do not apply if you are in the same health plan you were in when the law passed, a so-called grandfathered plan. Your plan does not need to meet these new requirements – and your plan is required to let you know that. Additionally, these protections may not apply if your insurer takes the new option announced by the President last week. This transitional policy allows issuers in states that permit it to renew health plans that were in effect on October 1, 2013, without adopting all of the 2014 market rule changes. This helps give consumers in the individual and small group markets the choice of staying in their plan or joining a new Marketplace plan next year.
Fonte: White House