Illinois says you can keep your current coverage!

Earlier today, the state of Illinois announced that insurance companies will have the option to extend health insurance plans that were scheduled to be cancelled at the end of the year. 

Last week President Obama once again stated that you can keep your current coverage.  This announcement came as a relief to individuals who had been told by their insurance companies that their coverage would cancel at the end of December. 

However welcome this announcement might have been, it was still up to the individual states to decide whether or not they would allow the insurance companies to extend those policies beyond 12/31/2013.  We have been waiting for the state of Illinois to decide how they would proceed.  Illinois announced today that the state will allow the policies to be extended.  

It is now up to the insurance companies to decide if and how they will extend the coverage.   

It is estimated that nearly 200,000 Illinois residents received a notice that their plan was being discontinued because it was not compliant with the standards set forth in the Affordable Care Act.  Nationwide this number is estimated to be close to 5 million people. 

Even if the coverage is extended, it still appears that these policies and plans will be discontinued upon the policy anniversary next year and the insureds will then be transitioned to the Affordable Care Act compliant plans at that time.