subject: No Waiting Period for Health Insurance Exchanges [print this page] No Waiting Period for Health Insurance Exchanges
One of the linchpins of healthcare reform is the creation of insurance exchanges. Those markets will be heavily regulated, both in terms of rates and mandated coverage levels. Insurers will not be allowed to discriminate based on gender or pre-existing conditions. Moreover, many low- and middle-income individuals and families will be eligible for subsidies, which will cover some or all of the premium expense. In addition, small employers will also be allowed to participate.
Some have speculated that there will be a waiting period in order to sign up. In other words, a person would have to remain uninsured for a specific period of time before becoming eligible to participate in the exchange. For many of those with health issues, purposely going without insurance coverage can be risky and catastrophic.
Fortunately, that is not the case. As soon as the health insurance exchanges go online in 2014, anybody will be able to sign up. They just have to meet all of the other requirements: he or she must either be self-employed or working for a firm that offers no or insufficient coverage (as judged by federal standards for comprehensiveness and cost).
It is possible that the public has confused the exchanges with the high-risk health insurance plans, which are set to launch later this year. The temporary risk pools do have a six-month waiting period. However, they are only intended as a stopgap measure. Most of the people eligible for the pools are considered uninsurable through other avenues. Therefore, they will not have such a decision to make, unless they have especially bare-bones and/or expensive guaranteed issue policies.
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