Lost in the idea of 4 plans the cover every thing is that there are now just FOUR PLANS THAT COVER EVERYTHING. This is a huge development for the consumer. No more getting bamboozled by fine print--finding out that the insurance they bought for $15/month cheaper premiums doesn't cover injuries from getting hit by a car until after they got hit by a car. Insurance companies now actually have to drive down the premiums and deductibles by cost cutting in their institutions as opposed to simply stripping plans of benefits to make a pretty advertising price quote. This is real economic competition in healthcare we are about to see for the first time.
Where do you get this idea that there is no more fine print? Of course there is. All sorts of exclusions remain, it's just that those exclusions can't discriminate based on age or sex or pre-existing conditions. You get free birth control, but that doesn't mean your ulcer medication is covered. And one of the biggest fine prints of all is that these insurance plans on the exchange are mostly HMOs, at least in Virginia, which the website doesn't even disclose unless you are good at deciphering the code words for it.
