Delaware Curbing Short-Term Health Plans over Concerns It May Raise Obamacare Premiums

Delaware announced on Monday that it will curb less expensive Obamacare alternatives, known as short-term health plans, due to concerns that they may lead to higher Obamacare premiums.

Delaware officials said that fearing higher Obamacare premiums, they will curb cheaper Obamacare alternatives that President Donald Trump expanded through executive orders.

Trump expanded short-term limited-duration health insurance plans through an executive order in October 2017, which often cost less than Obamacare plans because they do not have to comply with all of Obamacare’s insurance regulations. Americans can purchase short-term health plans for as many as to 36 months, which serve as a less expensive option for those who cannot afford Obamacare insurance plans.

Fearing increased health insurance premiums, Delaware will curb short-term health plans in the state for three months to curb Delaware citizens’ consumer freedom in the state.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the current unsubsidized monthly premium for Delaware’s Obamacare exchanges costs $750 per month, whereas short-term health plans start at approximately $75 per month.

Delaware was not the first state to curb short-term health plans. In September, California banned short-term health insurance.

Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, featured far more expensive plans compared to short-term health plans. A mid-level Silver policy cost roughly $400 per month in southern California and approximately $500 per month in northern California, which compares to only $91 per month for a short-term policy.

Heritage Foundation health scholar Doug Badger said in a research paper that short-term health plans “offer broader choices of providers and lower premiums for people in good health than Obamacare policies.”

Badger added that short-term plans were “offering a lifeboat enabling them to escape Obamacare’s sinking ship.”

Cato Institute health scholar Michael Cannon contended in May that Trump’s expansion of short-term health plans could cost 90 percent less than Obamacare plans.

Cannon chastised Democrats for trying to protect Obamacare over affordable health insurance.

“Democrats are literally trying to stop Republicans from expanding consumer protections because they would rather protect Obamacare,” the Cato scholar wrote.

Trump’s executive actions on Obamacare have offered Americans less expensive health insurance options.

Land O’Lakes announced this month that it created America’s first Association Health Plan (AHP), which is nearly 50 percent less expensive than Obamacare, thanks to President Trump’s executive orders.

When the president signed the executive order expanding AHPs and short-term plans, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) praised the order as “the biggest free-market reform of health care in a generation.”