Stand Alone Vision Plans Not to Be Sold Through California's Exchange

"Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill [Assembly Bill 1877] that Rancho Cordova’s vision insurer, VSP Global, says was necessary to let it sell coverage through the state-run health care marketplace, Covered California," according to a report in the Modesto Bee. "Brown’s veto appears to tear open an old wound...In 2012, the governing board of Covered California, the electronic marketplace created in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, was finalizing its rules. It had decided not to let 'stand-alone' companies like VSP, which provide only vision care insurance, sell coverage to individuals. Lynch protested and said he was putting on hold a significant expansion of the company’s operations in the Sacramento area. A slew of elected officials and business leaders urged the state agency to reconsider. Eventually, the Covered California board reversed course and voted to let VSP and other stand-alone insurers into the market for individuals....But because of a wrinkle in federal law, the agency later realized that stand-alone vision plans couldn’t be sold through an exchange, according to a legislative analysis of AB 1877." Read more.