Obama relaxes health care rules ahead of deadline

Through the Department of Health and Human Services, the Obama administration relaxed rules on Dec. 19 for individuals whose insurance policies have been cancelled, prompting an outcry from a health insurance industry that has to manage the changes.

The move was made four days ahead of today’s deadline for people to choose plans that would start Jan. 1. The rule change follows criticism of the president, who has promised that people could keep plans they were enrolled in even as many of the provisions of the health care law are enacted in 2014.

According to the Washington Post, those with cancelled plans can now seek a hardship exemption if they feel the plans available through the federal and state marketplaces are too costly. The Dec. 19 move, championed by a group of Democratic senators, comes after a mid-November policy change allowing insurance companies to continue for another year to offer individuals and small businesses health plans that do not meet the new ACA requirements. However, each state’s insurance regulator can decide whether they want to offer that extra year, and not all have agreed to do so.

Read more from the Washington Post.