State’s Insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi said the number of insurance policies canceled as a result of Obamacare in Connecticut is around 9,000.
During an interview Monday with WTIC Morning Host Ray Dunaway, Leonardi explained that of the 1.4 million policies in the state about 27,000 were canceled this year, with more than 80 percent being canceled for reasons that have nothing to do with Obamacare.
“A lot of what you’re seeing here is the insurance companies in the course of their normal business practice looking at their policies, their books of business, and making cancellations in the normal course,” Leonardi said. “There are still 9,000 policies roughly that have been canceled due to non-compliance. Those are policies that were not grandfathered.”
Leonardi said the state is still researching what can be done for the individuals or families that were on those policies.
President Barack Obama last week instructed state insurance commissioners like Leonardi to consider reinstating these plans if the insurance companies re-submit them for rate reviews.
Late last week, Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney opined that he didn’t believe Leonardi has the authority to overturn legislation that says the provisions of the Affordable Care Act must be implemented in Connecticut.
McKinney pointed Friday to a law passed in 2011 that says the state must comply with the Affordable Care Act and all of its regulations. A plain language reading of the law does not give the insurance commissioner discretion to make any changes to that requirement, which means those plans Obama was referring to would still remain illegal in Connecticut, McKinney said.
He called for a special session of the General Assembly to address the issue with the language.
There’s still no word yet from Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office about whether a special session is necessary or if the state needs to take any definitive steps to resolve the problem with the 9,000 policies.
