Arizona health insurance is becoming more and more involved these days. Every segment of society has been affected by the new federal health insurance law referred to as “Obamacare.” Policies to insure children separately, known as child-only plans, are no longer available in Arizona due to Obamacare. The law’s requirement that Arizona health insurance companies accept all child applicants on a guaranteed issue basis forced insurers to stop offering such coverage. This was a great loss for the Arizona health insurance market. Child-only plans were an affordable alternative for parents faced with very high group health insurance premiums through an employer.
The disabled have also been affected. For those under the age of 65, disabled, and having Medicare A&B, there is no longer any Arizona health insurance companies offering Medicare supplement coverage for these individuals. Their only choice now is Medicare Complete type plans which typically have a limited list of physicians to choose from, a local service area, and many other restrictions not found in true supplement plans.
For adults 18-64, higher premiums every few months has now become the norm. For over thirty years Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona limited their rate increases on individual products to once a year. This was standard practice with all carriers. Now Arizona health insurance companies must re-evaluate their premiums every few months due to a continual stream of new mandates being issued from the Health and Human Services department. The latest mandate requires all insurers to pay the total bill for contraceptives. “Free,” contraceptives have a price, and all part of quarterly rate increases. As they say, if you thought Arizona health insurance was expensive now, just wait until it’s free.
Most in the Arizona health insurance business are anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare, as are millions of small business owners across the country. The law must be thrown out in it’s entirety. As time goes by insurers and their policy holder’s are learning just how seriously flawed this law is, and how expensive. Employers of all sizes are sitting on the sidelines, not investing in their businesses and hiring additional help until they have a clear picture of what their tax and insurance liabilities will be for the next few years. Until a firm dollar amount can be tied to the true cost per employee with Arizona health insurance, and other costs associated with hiring, it should be of no surprise that the Arizona economy, and that of the nation’s, will remain stagnant.