AHA Statement on Final Rule on Short-Term, Limited-Duration Health Insurance Plans

Rick Pollack

President and CEO

American Hospital Association

August 1, 2018

America’s hospitals and health systems believe strongly that patients should have access to affordable, comprehensive health care coverage that allows them to receive the care they need, when they need it.

Today’s final rule will reintroduce to an already shaky individual market health plans that do not constitute true “insurance.” While these products may be appealing because of their cheaper price tag, the reality is that they could end up costing a patient far more by covering fewer benefits and ensuring fewer critical protections, like covering pre-existing conditions. Patients could find themselves responsible for their entire medical bill without any help from their “health plan.”

For providers, these products will lead to increased bad debt, with underinsured patients unable to afford the care they need but that is not covered. Increased bad debt will further strain hospitals’ and health systems’ ability to provide a full range of services to their patients and communities, including the most vulnerable.

These plans will also undermine the individual insurance market by removing younger, healthier people from the risk pool and driving up costs for those who remain.

There are other ways to expand access to affordable, high-quality health coverage, and the AHA continues to urge the Administration and Congress to work with providers, insurers, consumers, states and others to achieve these shared goals, such as: supporting reinsurance proposals, fully funding cost-sharing reductions and increasing outreach and enrollment assistance in the individual insurance market.

Contact:        

Marie Johnson, 202-626-2351, mjohnson@aha.org
Colin Milligan, 202-638-5491, cmilligan@aha.org

###

About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.