Despite Obama Announcement, Some Old Insurance Plans Might Not Be Able To Be Kept

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) – President Obama says that if you've lost your health insurance policy because of the Affordable Care Act, you can get it back. That may not be the case for everyone.

The President recently announced that if you like your current health care plan you can keep it for at least a year. The White House is giving insurance companies the option to keep offering plans that otherwise would have been canceled because they don't meet the new higher standards.

However people who have already been told that their policy has been canceled may not be able to get it back.

Tom Crennen is an insurance broker for coloradohealth.com and thinks getting the same policy back may not be an option anymore.

""It seems too late to me. It's nice to say everyone should be able to keep their plan and get everything back but people have already been sent out notices that their plan is being terminated. There's a lot of the Division of Insurance is involved in this. The insurance carriers have this," said Crennen.

Those two entities can refuse to allow old policies to be reissued. While the president gave his approval he says it is up to the states to decide.

"State insurance commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and cannot be sold in their states. But the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014," said the President.

Approximately 25,000 Coloradans have had their plans canceled or are expecting to have their plans canceled. Crennen believes that a reissuing of their old plan may not be the best answer.

"We've gone an awful far down the road on this I don't think it's going to change so we just have to work with what we have," said Crennen.

The Colorado Division of Insurance says they will support the president in his plan to reissue those policies and work with insurance companies to make sure consumers have all the options.