Healthcare reform (also referred to as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act) has cheerleaders and it has detractors but there is one constant – it is long (at last check, 13,000 pages), and it is confusing.
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time getting educated on the new healthcare reform law. I’ve been attending seminars hosted by various health insurance companies and have spent time researching how the new rules and regulations will impact my clients.
At one of these seminars, an attorney for a major insurance company said “I’m here to talk to you about healthcare reform. I spend 40 hours a week working on understanding and reading it, so if there is such thing as an expert, I am that. And I’m here to tell I still don’t understand it.”
At another seminar, when asked about healthcare reform, in response to several of the questions from the attendees, the presenters actually pulled out an actual magic 8 ball for the answers.
And some of what you hear may be political spin. For instance, today rates were released by the Dept. of Health and Human Services and immediately I saw two conflicting headlines:
Tennessee’s health insurance rates among lowest in U.S. on new exchanges
AND
Tennessee: Obamacare will triple men’s premiums, double women’s
So which is it? Well, both could be true depending on the coverage being compared. Each situation is going to be different, you are going to want some good advice on how to proceed.
All this is to say that:
1. The details of the health care reform laws are still being modified. Even us, the people close to the industry, are waiting to see what will happen.
2. Because so much of the new law is still in flux, there isn’t technically such a thing as an “expert”. However, it is important to work with an insurance representative that strives to educate themself.
3. This makes it even more important to work with an agent you can trust, since everyone will be effected by the new laws at some point.
I am certified to advise and sell the new health care reform plans and am always happy to go over any changes with my clients. Call me at 615.478.7146 or email me at ericjans@ericjans.com
