Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Cross-Border Health Care and the Hydraulics of Health Reform
Abstract
This chapter assesses whether cross-border health insurance plans that use foreign providers could satisfy the requirement to maintain “minimum essential coverage” under the new mandate. It examines whether plans that use foreign medical providers can provide “essential health benefits” and thus meet the requirements for “qualified health plans” to participate in the new state insurance exchanges beginning in 2014. The provisions of the Affordable Care Act impact cross-border health care in profound ways. The Act lawfully needs present immigrants to maintain insurance coverage under the mandate. It prohibits insurers from rejecting customers with preexisting medical conditions, requiring “guaranteed issue.” Many provisions in the Affordable Care Act might promote cross-border plans in the exchanges. In general, the Affordable Care Act exerts its own hydraulic pressures, in the hopes of covering more patients domestically.
Publication Title
The Globalization of Health Care
Document Type
Book Chapter
Keywords
cross-border health insurance, foreign medical providers, insurance exchanges, Affordable Care Act, health care
Recommended Citation
Cross-Border Health Care and the Hydraulics of Health Reform, in THE GLOBALIZATION OF HEALTH CARE: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES (Oxford University Press, 2013)
