Executive orders signed by President Donald Trump today, October 12, will add new health insurance options in Montana soon. Among other things, the orders will allow similar industries in multiple states to band together to purchase association plans, they also makes it easier for people to buy non-ACA compliant short term plans.  According to Montana Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale, the new options will not change the insurance plans already scheduled for open enrollment after the end of this month.

"People will have open enrollment on November first, and they are going to be able to continue to do that and enroll," Rosendale said. "When the executive order takes place and these changes are made, if folks determine that these new products are beneficial for them to utilize then they are going to be able to go ahead and go back over and switch their policies to these other products."

Rosendale says his office is already working on a new website for the public to compare prices with the new options.

"We will have our website that identifies folks that are ACA-compliant and that have gone through the rate review process and had their approval," Rosendale said. "Then we are going to have another website with additional information and additional products for folks to go to and do more research on. It is probably going to be another two weeks before we push the other website up."

Rosendale was optimistic about the changes but unsure about how many people would purchase the non-ACA  options. He said the executive order changes would be felt in about 60 days and that he is “always glad to see new options."

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