White House: Affordable Care Act adds many protections

Chris Jennings | USA TODAY

On Oct. 1, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) opened a new Health Insurance Marketplace where Americans can shop for quality, private insurance plans.

If you're already covered through your job, Medicare or Medicaid, you won't need to use it. You'll keep your coverage, enhanced by the new benefits and protections this law requires.

Recently, some Americans with insurance they bought on their own have received notices suggesting that, because of this law, their plan may be canceled. The individual market has historically had few standards. Thousands of Americans were dropped every year and countless others were denied access to coverage altogether due to minor medical conditions. On average, premiums for those who re-upped in these plans rose about 15% annually — and when they couldn't pay the bills and became uninsured, everyone else picked up the tab.

If you owned one of these plans before this law took effect, you can keep it. That was the president's promise. But since the law passed, many people left these plans. New plans or so-called grandfathered plans that downgraded coverage must adopt the new consumer protections. Some news outlets reported this as insurers cutting people loose. But that's not true. The ACA requires these plans to be replaced with quality, comprehensive coverage. That was a central promise of the law, too.

Marketplace plans must cover a core set of benefits such as maternity care, mental health care, prescription drugs, hospitalization and preventive care. Insurers can't use your gender or medical history to charge you more.

And the good news is, insurers are offering these options. They want to keep current enrollees as well as attract millions more who are currently uninsured. So if you received one of these letters, shop around in the new marketplace.

Between new choice, new competition and new tax credits that nearly half the people who now get insurance on the individual market may qualify for, most will be able to buy better plans for the same price or cheaper than projected. Another million may qualify for Medicaid in states that expand it next year. But no one can lose the right to health care again.

Chris Jennings is deputy assistant to the president for health policy.