Millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance have been informed that their policies will no longer be offered starting next year because they do not meet the higher standards of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
The actual number of people receiving the notices is unclear, in part because officials in 20 states say they do not have the information or are not tracking it.
Some states are tracking the policy notifications through their insurance departments or health care exchanges. In other states, the largest private insurers are releasing the number of discontinuation notices they have issued.
The Obama administration is encouraging states to let insurers keep individual and small-group policies that were in effect on Oct. 1 in place in 2014, but it's not yet clear how that will affect the number of policy cancellations.
