President Obama's November 14 announcement that health insurance issuers would be permitted--pending approval by state regulators--to renew certain canceled health insurance policies has raised new questions for the individual and small group marketplaces in 2014, just when many issuers were starting to turn their attention to strategies for 2015.¹

At the time of this writing, much remains unclear about how states will react to the president's proposed administrative fix. So far, Rhode Island, Vermont, Minnesota, and Washington have said they will not allow noncompliant policies to be renewed, while Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, and Oregon have said they will.^{2, 3, 4} Other states have said they need more time to decide, and it is still possible that legislative action will be taken on this issue.

For states that allow this transitional policy, a new category of exempted policies will be created, distinct from both the policies previously grandfathered in March 2010, and also the new reformed policies on and off the exchanges that comply with the full gamut of reforms taking effect in 2014.

I examine some of the questions and challenges posed by the transitional policy in my new article, "President Obama's transitional policy for canceled plans."