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Nearly 1 Million Californians Could Lose Health Care Plans Under Obamacare

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The head of California's new health insurance exchange estimates that nearly one million Californians may see their health insurance plans disappear when the Affordable Care Act kicks in.

President Barack Obama repeatedly said that if people like their health insurance plans that they could keep them. But did the president overpromise?

"I don't know about overpromise, but it's a little broadly overstated. There's changes, the health reform act has a lot of changes," said Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee.

Health Care Act Reform Could Take Hundreds Of Thousands Of Californian's Policies Off Market

He estimates as many as 900,000 Californians could get letters saying their individual insurance policies are being taken off the market because they don't meet minimum coverage requirements under the President's health care reform act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.

Steve Shivinsky with Blue Shield of California said said 119,000 Californians covered by Blue Shield will be affected because that carrier is eliminating what it calls "non-grandfathered plans".

That means that they signed up for a plan with Blue Shield after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March, 2010," Shivinsky said.

Shivinsky said customers will be moved into comparable policies that comply with the Affordable Care Act and that no one will be left without insurance.

Peter Lee will be the guest on KCBS' In Depth segment, airing Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and again at 8:30 p.m.

 

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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