CHICAGO — The following is a statement attributed to American Medical Association (AMA) President Andrew W. Gurman, M.D., in reaction to the regulations the Department of Health and Human Services issued Thursday concerning the individual insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“While we agree steps must be taken promptly to stabilize the individual insurance market, the American Medical Association believes the regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday still need to address the resulting inequity of the ACA’s grace period, which allows issuers to collect unpaid premiums for months in which health care services were provided but not actually covered by insurance. Moreover, we believe reducing the open enrollment period to six weeks will not provide enough time for consumers to enroll, and we are concerned that moving oversight of network adequacy completely to the states will not provide sufficient protection for physicians and their patients.”
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The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
