Why Upcoming Reforms Are No Reason to Postpone Buying Health Insurance

If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been keeping at least one eye on the endless back-and-forth over health insurance reform that’s been going on for months in the halls of Congress. If you listen to the way the politicians and pundits are talking lately it can seem as if the upcoming legislation will make so many changes that any health insurance you have right now might be something totally different once the proposed regulations make it past the president’s desk. Combine that with recent controversial rises in premiums among certain health insurers— with no real guarantee that it won’t happen again next year— and (superficially) it can seem as though a “wait-and-see” approach to shopping for health insurance might be the most prudent one. To counter this misconception, here are a few of the reasons why waiting isn’t a good idea:

• It’s moving at the speed of Congress. While the current bill has been in the works for months— and some kind of health reform has been waiting in the wings for decades— it’s still got an enormous amount of political ground to cover before it crosses the president’s desk. While it’s possible that this bill, in one form or another, is going to pass in the next few weeks, bear in mind that this was also


• Many states, as well as many insurers, currently require a fixed duration of continuous coverage before certain benefits take effect. The specifics can vary state by state and from insurer to insurer, but acquiring some degree of health coverage as early as possible will almost always provide major advantages down the road, even after any of the proposed reforms take effect.


• Any impending changes will affect current policy-holders as well as those who are not yet covered. Most of the proposed reforms will require insurers to re-vamp their current “basic” policies to provide more comprehensive coverage, so getting even a barebones health plan now may well get you a foot in the door for much better health coverage later on. On the flip-side, assuming that the upcoming reforms somehow make things worse for current policy-holders, it will still be much easier to cancel an existing policy— or switch from one to another— than to obtain one from a standing start.


• Life happens. By definition, none of us can know for certain whether something unexpected might come up in the near future and give even the most healthy individual a need for urgent medical attention. Even if one assumes that sweeping health insurance reforms are due to land next week, it can make all the difference to have coverage now to provide relief from an unforeseen calamity.

While the tension and uncertainty induced by the unfolding debates over health insurance reform can be considerable, there’s no reason to let these things cloud your judgment or create needless risk.