From Congresswoman Kay Granger
During the health care debate the administrations promise was: If you like your current health care plan you can keep it. Unfortunately the administration didnt mention that their promise was subject to federal regulation. Let me explain.
Health insurance plans that existed before the health reform bill was passed were supposed to be grandfathered in" and exempted from many of the new requirements in the legislation. This week the Obama administration released draft regulations about what these plans would have to do to qualify as grandfathered plans."
Unfortunately the draft regulations are extremely restrictive and will limit the number of plans that will be grandfathered in. According to the administrations own estimates anywhere from 87 million to 117 million Americans will face changes in their health care plans because the insurance offered by their employers does not meet the restrictive regulations. That is a lot of people who might like their current insurance but wont be able to keep it.
Individuals arent the only ones who will be affected. Because they have fewer employees insurance plans offered by small businesses are more likely to lose their grandfathered status than those offered by larger companies. Furthermore the administrations regulations indicate that those insurance policies that were purchased through the individual market are expected to lose their grandfathered status more quickly. In an economy that is continuing to struggle businesses of all types small medium and large just want to be able to stay afloat. These new restrictions are only going to make businesses struggle even more as so many are just trying to break even.
This is just more bad news about a bill the public knew nothing about. A health care reform law that causes employers to drop health insurance coverage or prevents them from hiring new employees is not the kind of reform Americans wanted.
