If you like your health care plan, you can keep it — and sue the insurance company for selling it to you. At least, that's what some lawyers say.
In its attempt to let people keep their canceled health care policies, the White House has said some plans don't have to comply with certain Obamacare requirements for another year. But those requirements are still on the books, even if the White House isn't enforcing them.
Customers who buy uncanceled plans can still sue insurance companies for not meeting the law's standards, legal experts say.
"If I was an insurance company, I'd be very worried about this," said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, adding, "The law is still the law."
Some states and insurance carriers are already skeptical of Obama's proposal and unenthusiastic about going through the complicated process of uncanceling plans for just a year. The threat of lawsuits could be another reason for insurers to reject the White House's proposal.
Here's how it works: The health care law sets certain standards for all individual insurance plans. They have to cover a set of 10 "essential benefits," for example, and can't impose lifetime caps on coverage. Insurance companies have been canceling policies that don't meet those standards and don't qualify for the relatively narrow "grandfathering" exemption written into the law.