Healthcare law's renewal loophole divides CA health insurers

Ahead of next year's healthcare overhaul, some major insurers and consumer advocates want California lawmakers to bar companies from renewing most individual policies beyond Jan. 1. At issue is a loophole in the federal Affordable Care Act that enables health insurers to extend existing policies for nearly all of 2014, thereby avoiding changes under the healthcare law. Several insurance companies are promoting this idea of consumers holding on to their coverage one more year and escaping potential rate hikes tied to the massive coverage expansion. But critics fear this maneuver is merely a way for insurers to target younger and healthier people and keep them out of the broader insurance pool next year.