Senator Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a statement about the failures of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) after a report was published indicating that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has "prompted health insurance carriers to stop selling new child-only plans in many states," consequently reducing access to insurance coverage for children in the US.
Based on data from the report, 17 states have dropped child-only insurance policies and 39 states have had at least one insurance company leave the child-only market. This is happening because insurance companies know that under the new health reform bill, they will have to accept all applicants for the child-only insurance. This will encourage parents with sicker children to enroll, altering insurance risk pools. Essentially, insurance companies are closing child-only insurance markets and programs to save themselves from higher medical costs.
Given the withdrawal of insurance companies and child-only policies, competition in the marketplace and access to care has decreased. The results further support concerns that the DHHS has not done its due diligence in predicting or solving problems associated with PPACA.
In his statement on the report, Senator Enzi said that,
"This Administration must do something immediately to address the issue that 17 states do not have access to child-only health plans because of the new healthcare law. The Secretary of Health and Human Services (Kathleen Sebelius) could work with these states to establish a uniform enrollment period to provide greater stability in the marketplace for carriers and consumers. This would also prevent individuals from waiting until a child is sick before purchasing insurance."
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