“I understand.”
That was Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s message to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama after their decision to not reinstate thousands of insurance plans that do not comply with ObamaCare.
President Obama tried to quell the public outcries against his beleaguered healthcare law by telling insurance providers they could continue offering such plans for another year. However, Alabama’s largest insurer said they simply could not revert to previous policies after spending several years preparing to comply with thousands of pages of ObamaCare regulations.
“I do not like the Affordable Care Act,” Bentley said. “I understand why Blue Cross Blue Shield did what they had to do.”
More than 5.4 million Americans have been informed that their current individual health insurance plan will be cancelled to comply with ObamaCare — 87,000 of those live in Alabama.
Bentley, a doctor by trade, has been outspoken against the president’s healthcare law since its inception, at one point calling it the worst piece of legislation he’s ever seen.
But Bentley said insurance companies cannot be expected to do a “180” in a couple of weeks after spending years preparing to implement ObamaCare’s demands.
“Insurance companies, they’re a business, and they already had things set up,” Bentley told Yellowhammer. “I want everyone to be able to purchase insurance. I would like to have more bare bones policies out there that are less expensive.”
“What I think we need to do is repeal the act completely,” the governor continued. “We should bring together those who are involved — whether its medical [professionals], insurance companies and other stakeholders, including individuals — bring those good minds together and we can come up with a solution for this.”
Bentley went on to say that the problem must be solved in a bipartisan manner, and that the solution must be based on free market principles that protect the patient-doctor relationship.
The governor also noted that access to healthcare is a major concern, in addition to the issues with the health insurance marketplace. According to the Association of American Medical colleges, the United States could face a shortage of more than 91,500 physicians by 2020.
“I believe we will need to use more physician extenders and nurse practitioners working with their collaborative agreements that we have in place, and producing more primary care doctors,” Bentley said.
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