JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, the Trump
administration took another step
toward eliminating Obamacare

by changing rules that will
allow consumers to buy cheaper,
shorter-term health insurance.

But, as Lisa Desjardins
explains, there are
concerns that this
move, set to take place

this fall, may be harmful for
people with health problems
and possibly left without

enough health care coverage.

LISA DESJARDINS: The president
says there needs to be more
affordable insurance options

than what's available through
the Obamacare marketplaces now.

The short-term plans will likely
offer much lower premiums,
but insurers wouldn't have

to cover preexisting conditions
or offer the same benefits
as required by the Affordable

Care Act.

Currently, people can
only use short-term
coverage for three months.

But the new rules would allow
people to keep those plans for
a year and potentially renew

them for a total of three years.

Julie Appleby covers
this for Kaiser Health
News and joins me now.

Julie Appleby, let me
just start off right away.

While the Trump administration
says these are good options
for people, cheaper, opponents

say they're skimpy and risky.

Just explain what
these plans are.

What do they do?

JULIE APPLEBY, Kaiser Health
News: Well, these are short-term
plans that are meant to be

sort of a stopgap between
-- maybe you have lost your
job or you're between jobs.

You need some coverage
for a little while.

So they're meant
to be a stopgap.

They have been around
for a long time.

They are, currently, as
you mentioned, available
only up to 90 days.

So you have to renew
them every few months.

The Trump administration is
changing the rules on that to
make them available for up to a

year.

But what they are, basically,
they have some similarities to
what we're used to as job-based

insurance, for example,
but there are some
major differences.

They're less expensive.

And the reason they're
less expensive is because
they cover a lot less.

They can be choosy
about who they pick.

So if you are sick or have
some kind of preexisting
condition, you might
not even be able to buy

one of these plans.

LISA DESJARDINS: I was looking
up, for example, what, again,
one of these plans might look

like for me or someone like me.

And the deductibles are huge.

You would pay everything
up to, say, $10,000, but
your premium is much less.

Who would benefit from this?

Who would be the
winners of this change?

JULIE APPLEBY: So, the folks
that might find these appealing
are generally younger and

healthier people, those folks
who don't have a preexisting
condition, because, remember,

those folks aren't going
to be able to buy these.

So that might appeal to them.

And it's also folks who are
struggling right now to pay
for an Affordable Care Act plan

because they don't
get a subsidy.

Remember, the Affordable Care
Act provides subsidies to
people who earn up to about 400

percent of the poverty
level, which is about
$48,000 for an individual.

But if you don't get a
subsidy, some of the premiums
can be very expensive.

So the Trump administration
says, we want to
offer these plans.

They are going to be lower-cost.

But they do come with this
caveat that they cover a lot
fewer things, and they may have

very high deductibles.

And the other thing, that these
short-term plans don't have to
follow a lot of the Affordable

Care Act rules.

So they could have annual or
lifetime limits, which are also
barred in the Affordable Care

Act plans.

(CROSSTALK)

LISA DESJARDINS: If
you get a catastrophic
disease, for example.

JULIE APPLEBY: Some of -- some
of the patient advocacy groups,
many of the patient advocacy

groups are very concerned about
these plans, that people who
are sick are going to perhaps

buy them or become sick while
they have one and realize
that they don't cover a lot of

things or that there are
these high deductibles.

LISA DESJARDINS: If you
hit $500,000 of cancer
treatment, you may be
on the hook for what's

left, for example.

JULIE APPLEBY: Right.

Some of them may have a limit
of $250,000 a year in coverage
or $2 million a year in

coverage or that type of thing.

So that's where folks are
really going to have to read
the fine print on these plans.

The Trump administration in
their new rule that came out
today said that they are going

to require insurers to put
sort of a little box on their
plan and say, these plans may

not cover everything,
read everything.

It might not cover
hospitalization.

It might not cover emergency
room care, and to read the plans
carefully before you purchase

it.

(CROSSTALK)

LISA DESJARDINS: Risk warning
for the -- for your insurance.

JULIE APPLEBY: Right.

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to
talk about the scope of this.

This -- let's look at the
numbers about short-term plans.

Right now, there are some,
it looks like, 122,500 people
who use these plans on the

individual market.

The White House has said
in the last day that they
think this change will
change that substantially

to 600,000, almost five times
as many, and then, in three
years, that will be almost

more than 1.5 million people
who use these short-term plans.

That's a huge change
for these plans.

But what does that mean in
terms of individual markets?

And how is this going to
affect the health of Obamacare?

Because, obviously, this is
the president trying to go
after the Affordable Care Act.

JULIE APPLEBY: There's been a
number of estimates on how many
people would buy these plans.

And I think until they come
out and insurers start offering
and we see how many people

sign up for them,
it's hard to say.

The government does expect
about 600,000 people in
the first year, in 2019.

And they think, of those,
about 200,000 of them will come
from the Affordable Care Act

plan.

These are folks who probably
don't get a subsidy.

So they might jump
to one of these.

The concern is -- and the
government and other estimates
have shown that this will raise

premiums for those folks who
stay in the Affordable Care Act,
because it siphons out probably

the younger and healthier folks.

So, then the premiums may
go up in the Affordable
Care Act marketplace.

If you're getting a
subsidy, your subsidy is
also going to increase.

So folks who get a
subsidy may not see that
much of a difference.

But the very people that are
struggling to buy coverage
right now, those folks who are

buying it on their own, and
they don't get a subsidy, they
may see a premium increase

as a result.

And some of them may not be able
to buy one of these short-term
plans because they have

a preexisting condition.

LISA DESJARDINS: So, while this
isn't a huge market itself,
it will grow, and it could

have a lot of ripple effects.

JULIE APPLEBY: It could
have some ripple effects.

As you mentioned, there's
about 14 million people in the
plan -- in the Affordable Care

Act now; 200,000 of those
leave, but, over time, that
could grow up quite a bit.

LISA DESJARDINS: Julie
Appleby with Kaiser Health
News, thank you very much.

JULIE APPLEBY: Thank you.