Bill Approved by House Allows Small Businesses to Keep Dropped Health Care Plans for a Few Years

House Lawmakers approved a bill known as the “keep your plan” initiative as an alteration to President Obama’s health care law (The Affordable Care Act). The proposal would give insurers the opportunity to continue selling insurance group plans over the next five years that don’t fully meet the guidelines set forth by the Affordable Care Act.  The caveat under this plan is in order for an insurer to qualify, the insurance plan would have to be offered by the company to employers prior to the start of 2013. 

This plan grants small business owners the choice to keep their existing health care plans that were deemed “non-compliant” under the Affordable Care Act for the next couple of years. Furthermore, the bill gives small businesses that are not enrolled in the correct health insurance coverage under the current health care law, the opportunity to purchase it now.  

The Affordable Care Act has been met with scrutiny among some small business owners feeling a sense of obligation to enroll in a health care system they believe doesn’t provide flexibility in its health insurance options.   But with the keep your plan proposal, small business owners are afforded the choice of finding inexpensive health care options to suit their needs.