Saying that certain requirements of Obamacare “make sense,” the CEO of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) today announced that the insurer would continue to offer “important health care insurance protections” regardless of the soon-to-be-announced decision of the US Supreme Court. Health insurers implemented specific parts of the Obamacare law, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, as the requirements became effective. UnitedHealth is the first to say that it will keep the new provisions no matter what.
UnitedHealth will continue to offer preventive care with no co-payments, dependent coverage until age 26, elimination of the lifetime cap on policies, elimination of rescissions to individual policies except in the case of fraud, and a simpler appeals process.
The company will not extend coverage to children up to the age of 19 with pre-existing conditions, another key provision of Obamacare, saying, “ One company acting alone cannot take that step, so UnitedHealthcare is committed to working with all other participants in the health care system to sustain that coverage.”
A cynic might point out that none of the provisions that UnitedHealth will continue to support really costs the company much, if anything. If UnitedHealth or any other insurance company had really believed that Obamacare would hurt their business the company would have made a lot of noise.
Health insurers got a pretty good deal from President Obama and they know it. Expect the rest of the flock to follow UnitedHealth’s lead.
Paul Ausick
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