Obamacare outlined to Havre businesses

A Blue Cross Blue Shield representative told Havre business people Wednesday about changes they can expect when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect next year.

Frank Cote's talk included comments on a headline-grabbing issue: people's existing policies being canceled due to the act, called Obamacare.

President Barack Obama has been criticized for telling people that if they liked their current policy, under the reform act they could keep that policy.

"Technically, the president was correct,"Cote told about 30 people at a forum at Northern Montana Hospital sponsored by the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce. "If you had a policy that was in effect prior to the law and it didn't make substantial changes to that policy, it was grandfathered."

But very few grandfathered policies exist because most had to be changed, he said.

Cote said he had to sign the letters telling people their Blue Cross Blue Shield policies were being canceled.

"I'm getting a beating on that letter," he said.

Havre insurance agent Steve Mariani, who presented the program at the forum with Cote, said the letter means the policy will be canceled at its renewal date, but a new policy will be offered at that time.

"Nobody's being canceled by any means," he said. "What's happening is ... they've renamed the policies. ... That variety is now going to change to a bronze, silver, some other kind of policy."

When the cancellation date comes up, he said, "You're going to get a nicer letter from Frank that says, 'You can have this Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.'"

And both Cote and Mariani told the people at the forum that people can shop around to see which plan best fits them.

Cote said that is true for most of the issues in the health care reform - and that people and businesses can talk to insurance agents to find what their best options are.

The audience asked about many issues, such as how to figure how many employees they have - businesses with more than 50 full-time-equivalents are required to offer insurance to their employees - what is the best route as far as offering insurance for employee spouses and dependents.

Cote said it is crucial for businesses, individuals and health insurance companies to work together to find the best way to implement the health care reform.

"We all have to get creative looking at what's best" for the employer, for the employee and the employee's family, he said.

Cote added that new policies are being created, including by Blue Cross Blue Shield, to cover some of the issues that arise such as employer coverage of spouses and dependants.

Responding to some questions from the audience, Cote said some programs, such as the Tri-Care system for members and veterans of the U.S. military and their families will not be impacted by the health care reform.

He said the same is true for Medicare, aside from reducing and by 2020 closing the "donut hole" coverage gap for prescription medications.

He added that an intent of the bill is to make health insurance affordable to the lower- and middle-income people who now cannot afford it, and to keep down the rapid increases in health care and health insurance costs the nation has seen in recent decades.

Cote said provisions already in place pointed out by people in the room - such as Montana's unisex insurance code, its method of computing group insurance premiums and insurance covering wellness programs - along with "things that, in theory, if we can get them working in the system, preventative care, focus on primary care, those kinds of things, that will hopefully control costs of health care and keep down future premium increases. ...

"There is nobody in this room who believes the current system is sustainable unless we can get those increases under control," he added.

He said that the reform will need to be tweaked and adjusted as time goes on - "Nobody in Congress would say the act is perfect" - and, hopefully, that will happen in the next few years.

He said attempts to repeal or significantly change the act or have it declared unconstitutional so far have been unsuccessful, and he doubts that any will succeed.

"I just don't see this going away," Cote said.