High risk pools were an attempt to make insurance available to the "uninsurable" but they have lumped people with marginally high blood pressure in with cancer survivors. Your husband has an issue that I don't think (in my ignorance) is that much of a drain on an inusrance company but they use this condition as an excuse to force him into paying the high risk pool rates. I would have been pushed into the Texas high risk pool at a monthly cost of approximately $600/mo. It would have been a $7500 deductible plan. You didn't say what your deductible is but it doesn't sound like you are saving much on the old high risk premium. You do get the unlimited lifetime coverage.
Yes, the ACA eliminates lifetime caps. Depending on your state, savings over the cost of the high risk pool may be considerable. Not all states established HRPs.
The ACA attempts to address issues with the prior insurance plans. The biggies were the lifetime maximum and preexisting conditions. These are "resolved" with the ACA but insurance companies need to have the the currently healthy individuals that previously weren't covered to buy coverage. If they don't, these ACA plans will quickly resemble the old high risk plans with premiums raised to cover the unlimited liabilities. There is nothing in the current law keeping an individual from paying the "fine" until their cancer is discovered.
That's why there is an open enrollment period every year. This year it's extra long, next year and in subsequent years it will run from October until December. That's why there is a fine/tax to make free-riders kick in at least some small portion to cover their potential costs. Medicare part A and part D also raise premiums for people who do not sign up immediately. That may be something that needs to be added to the ACA.
The law counts on the healthy to pay for the sick and the young to pay for the old. If those young and healthy individuals don't buy their insurance we'll prossibly see some dramatic rate increases. I do think that these initial plans are priced to pretty well protect the insurance companies since the difference I would pay in a plan is not much different than what I'd pay for a high risk plan.
That's how insurance works. When I was a young engineer, I was part of my company's pool. The old guys with COPD and pocket protectors paid the same premium as I paid even though I used to hoof it to work, 3 miles each way. Now, I'm old and starting to use some of the system. The ACA turns the individual market into one big group, like an employer's group.
In all likelihood, everyone who is young and healthy today, will have medical needs sometime in the future and will also, hopefully, get old. You know all those old people whingeing about their insurance plans covering maternity care and contraception? (my plan covers prostate cancer and I'm quite certain I'll never need that).
I'm waiting for the "I can't afford the high deductible" news stories in a couple of months.
After working as a physician for twenty years, I've heard that complaint for oh, about, uh, twenty years. Next year, when premiums rise, I'm sure that there will be people loudly blaming it on the ACA. Presumably the ACA also caused all the premium rises over the past decades, too.
My BIL was born with two flaps in his aortic valve instead of the usual three. He's completely healthy, however, statistically the two flap valves occasionally need to be replaced. He doesn't need a valve replacement at this time and may never need one, however he was also uninsurable. Now he has insurance which he is paying for himself.
