Health law's 'grandfather' clause could deprive consumers of key benefits

Kaiser Health News staff writers Phil Galewitz and Mary Agnes Carey write about a term that will be central to how health reform is implemented: "Under the law, existing, or 'grandfathered' health plans are exempt from several consumer protections, including a requirement that beginning as early as September prohibits health plans from charging co-payments and other cost-sharing for certain preventive health services such as immunizations and cancer screenings" (Galewitz and Appleby, 5/10). Read entire article. 

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.