Starting January 1, 2014, the Affordable Care Act will bring much-needed reforms to the private health insurance market. Insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage based on people's preexisting conditions or use health status or gender to set premiums, and health plans will be required to cover a comprehensive set of benefits. However, some insurers have begun encouraging their customers to renew their coverage ahead of schedule in order to delay implementing these reforms for up to 12 months.
In a new blog post, Georgetown University's Christine Monahan and Sabrina Corlette explain how some consumers will be harmed by these early renewals and what states are doing to curtail them.