AMA backs steps to protect and sustain ACA marketplaces

CHICAGO — Faced with federal and state actions that have the potential to cause instability in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced its opposition to health insurance plans being sold in the individual and small group markets that do not guarantee critical patient protections under the ACA.

The AMA believes that all plans sold to individuals and small groups should guarantee pre-existing condition protections and coverage of essential health benefits and their associated protections against annual and lifetime limits, and out-of-pocket expenses. The exception is in the circumstance of short-term limited duration insurance offered for no more than three months.