Dive Brief:
- California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed a bill into law that guarantees consumers with serious health conditions the ability to continue their health insurance coverage even while they're switching to new plans.
- The new law is designed to allow patients receiving treatment for certain conditions to keep seeing their existing doctor, even if that doctor is not in the new plan.
- According to the Sacramento Business Journal, plan cancellations have affected about 900,000 state residents who might be impacted by this law.
Dive Insight:
The idea that a patient undergoing treatment for a serious condition shouldn't be forced to switch doctors when in the middle of treatment is a sensible one. While it's convenient for health plans drop and pick up doctors as they please, it could conceivably endanger patients whose treatment is complex. I wouldn't be surprised to see such laws turn up in other traditionally progressive states over the next year.