Albert (age 52) stubbornly refused to buy health insurance his entire adult life. Experiencing chest pains recently, he discovered he needs open heart surgery. Friday he took advantage of the ‘Obamacare’ Open Enrollment and signed up for coverage that starts January 1st. He’s scheduled his surgery immediately after that.
Mary is uninsured and expecting a baby on December 27th. Her employer happens to be her father, who also has one other full time employee. That qualifies them for an ‘Obamacare’ small group health plan which can be written with a December 15th effective date, without regard to pre-existing conditions.
And you wonder why health insurance is so expensive!
Related to this, a Texas court ruled Friday that the ACA mandate is unconstitutional. How will that affect Albert and Mary?
Not at all for 2019 and possibly beyond, at least until SCOTUS rules on this, again. (See red banner here.)
In the meantime, Wisconsin is uniquely poised after January 7th to enact state laws to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions and mandate health insurance.
I mean really, should you be able to buy a car or home without auto, homeowner and health insurance?
P.S. Open Enrollment for 2019 ended yesterday (12/15) unless you are covered by a group health plan through the end of the month. Check with our resident expert Dawn Devlin for details.
