Access to Care

Well, we also heard from individuals like Sandra, who lives in California, Claire from Illinois. They're troubled by the limited number of doctors and hospitals that they're finding take their insurance. How do we get more doctors and hospitals participating in these plans?

Well, again, these are private insurance plans, which means that they're going to have networks. That's pretty much true of any health insurance plan you got out there right now. If you're signing up for a Blue Cross plan, let's say, in Florida, then they have a pretty good network of doctors and hospitals, but they probably don't have 100% participation of every doctor or hospital. So that's not unique to the Affordable Care Act.

What we have said is, for example, if you're in the middle of lifesaving treatment with a particular doctor, then we will work to make sure that you can keep that treatment and not shift. But for the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, you know, they're going to have to make some choices. And they might end up having to switch doctors, in part because they're saving money. But that's true, you know, if your employer suddenly decides, we think this network is going to give a better deal. We think this is going to help keep premiums lower. You've got to use this doctor as opposed to that one, or this hospital as opposed to that one.

The good news is, in most states, people have more than one option. And what they'll find, I think, is that their doctor or network or hospital that's conveniently located is probably in one of those networks. Now, you may find out that that network is more expensive than another network, and then you've got to make a choice in terms of what's right for your family. Do you want to save on costs or do you want to save on convenience?

But these are all high quality plans. These are the same plans you'd get if you were buying insurance not using the Affordable Care Act or if your employer is out there buying insurance.