Unbanked: Prediction of Challenges To Come Regarding PPACA

With the impending enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, research groups all over are attempting to find loop holes to provisions, cracked logic, anything to cause a stir and potentially create fear.

There are concerns about those who do not have bank accounts, or, as the research groups have labelled them, the “unbanked.”  The concern is that this group of people, the unbanked, who primarily use prepaid debit cards will not be allowed to pay for recurring premiums due to their method of payment. The real question here is whether or not these prepaid debit cards are backed by a major credit card company.

It can be easily argued easily from either side. On the Insurance side, if margins are already razor thin to meet with federal requirements, paying a small percentage to the credit card companies could be detrimental to profits. On the other hand, these costs are usually (and by now, are already) built into the cost of item/plan/package/purchase. Most business will take any form of payment these days, whether liquid or not. Granted, an Insurance company will probably not take 50 shares of an unknown XYZ Inc. as payment for your policy, but I’d bet my lunch that they won’t sneer at cash, check or card.

Essentially any bank card has a bank account linked to it. Only time will tell if this is a legitimate fear to have or if it’s just another way some bigger companies are turning fears “unbanked” consumers into a fatter bottom line.