A 40% excise tax on co-called Cadillac coverage under the Affordable Care Act will not be assessed until 2018, which gives employers time to tweak their plan design, but now there’s concern that platinum-level health insurance might disappear from public exchanges.
One unintended consequence of too many U.S. health care consumers buying down their HIX coverage could be that health insurers pull the plug on platinum-level options that simply aren’t selling. Another worry involves inappropriate benefit elections among sicker individuals who opt for high-deductible bronze and silver plans that trigger high out-of-pocket costs – even if trained “navigators” advise against such a move.
