Florida Blue head says insurance is ‘not cutting people’ but are ‘transitioning people’

Patrick Geraghty, Florida Blue CEO, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to defend the rollout of Obamacare and explain that insurance companies are not cutting coverage for people but rather, “transitioning” them to new ones.

photo Will O’Neill via Flickr

“We’re not cutting people,” Geraghty said. “We’re actually transitioning people.”

“What we’ve been doing is informing folks that their plan doesn’t meet the test of the essential health benefits, therefore they have a choice of many options that we make available through the exchange,” he continued.

“This really is a transition,” Geraghty reiterated.

Customers received notices that their existing policy is no longer available and were instructed to contact the company for guidance.

The canceled policies are those that don’t offer coverage broad enough to be considered as “qualified health plans” under the Affordable Care Act. Qualified plans must include coverage for things like maternity and newborn care, mental health, substance abuse services and emergency services, among other things.

“Essentially, we have to put them into plans that are filed an approved as qualified health plans,” said Jon Urbanek, one of the company’s senior vice presidents.