The planned expansion of short-term health plans under a new Trump administration rule unveiled this week is on a crash course with a brick wall in California.
The Golden State’s Democrat-dominated legislature is close to banning such plans, which offer consumers lower premiums in exchange for skimpier benefits that do not meet the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements for other policies sold in the individual marketplace.
A bill that would prohibit the sale of short-term plans, by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), has already passed the California Senate and is pending in the Assembly, where two committees have given it a green light.
“Trump’s team continues to do everything possible to destabilize our insurance market and compromise the health care of millions of Californians, but I won’t let that happen,” Hernandez said in a written statement. “This is why the California State Legislature must pass my measure, SB 910, which would keep this junk insurance out of California.” (read more)