Individual and small-group health insurance plans that became effective after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010, but before most of the law’s regulations became effective on Jan. 1, 2014, are called grandmothered or transitional plans. Since grandmothered or transitional plans do not comply with all of the ACA’s requirements, they were scheduled to end on December 31, 2013, so that ACA-compliant coverage could replace them. But instead of being canceled, the life of these plans was extended so that enrolled consumers would not be forced to find other coverage. After being extended in 2013, grandmothered or transitional plans were extended many times since then until 2021 when the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ruled they would be canceled at the end of 2022.
