Iowa pursues bill to allow insurers to offer non-ACA compliant insurance plans
Efforts from Republicans in Washington, D.C., failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but that hasn’t stopped some states from taking matters into their own hands. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign legislation that would allow insurers to sell certain plans that don’t meet ACA regulations.
According the Des Moines Register, the state senate approved the bill March 27, with Reynolds poised to sign it into law as soon as feasible.
The legislation would allow small companies to join together to purchase “association health plans,” which don’t meet ACA regulations for covering maternity care or addiction treatment. It also contains provisions that would allow the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation to offer non-ACA compliant plans to its members.
Iowa appears to be following in the footsteps of Idaho, whose governor led an initiative to allow insurers to offer “state-based plans” that reintroduced some pre-ACA features like lifetime caps on benefits and denial of coverage based on preexisting conditions. That move, however, was rejected by CMS earlier this month, with CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, saying such a move would fail to “substantially enforce” existing law.
Nicholas joined TriMed in 2016 as the managing editor of the Chicago office. After receiving his master’s from Roosevelt University, he worked in various writing/editing roles for magazines ranging in topic from billiards to metallurgy. Currently on Chicago’s north side, Nicholas keeps busy by running, reading and talking to his two cats.