Archive for the ‘Federal’ Category
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Many small business owners are now facing the tough decision as to whether they should grandfather their plans, or make necessary changes to bring down their costs. There are pros and cons to both sides, and the decision should not be a rushed one. Therefore, we want to provide some guidance tools to help you make the right choice.
With the recent rate increases there may be a desire or need to choose a higher deductible plan with lower rates.
- If you increase the deductibles, coinsurance, or maximum out of pocket exposure, your new plan will be subjected all changes in the recently passed healthcare reform act.
This is a preview of
Should You Grandfather Your Group Plan?
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Read the full post (166 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)
Tags: added benefits, Coinsurance, deductibles, group health, health care reform, preventative care, Universal Health Care
Posted in Employers, Federal, Government Run Health Plan, Group, Laws | No Comments »
Friday, September 24th, 2010
What does it mean to lose “grandfathered status”? This may or may not be a concern to you. In a nutshell, this means is your plan will now have to comply with all regulations mandated by health care reform. One of the most important things to know is that along with guarantee issue coverage for all applicants, premium ratios cannot exceed 3:1. Currently, most carriers implement rate variations every 4 years — i.e. 30-34, 35-39, and so on and so on. With the reduction of rate brackets (from 8 to 3), one can only imagine that premiums for younger clients will be much higher than they currently are in order to meet this requirement.
Tags: deductibles, health care reform, health insurance, preventative care, Universal Health Care
Posted in Federal, General, Government Run Health Plan, Laws, Resources, Tools | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
The COBRA subsidy program remains in limbo, and as a result many enrollees are choosing to discontinue coverage altogether. This program, which was intended for anyone terminated from September 1, 2008 to May 31, 2010, offered a 65% subsidy for up to 15 months. The subsidy, however, would be less for anyone whose modified gross income exceeds $125,000. While this is of great assistance to COBRA enrollees, anyone who has exhausted their 15 months or is newly unemployed, relief seem to be nowhere on the horizon.
This is a preview of
Expired COBRA Subsidy Leads to Coverage Lapses
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Read the full post (165 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)
Tags: COBRA, health care costs, health insurance, pre-existing
Posted in Employees, Federal, Group, Laws, Resources | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
It is expected that about 456,000 small businesses in California will qualify for the federal tax credits, offered to employers with 25 or fewer full time eligible employees earning less than $50,000 annually. This will bring some relief as employers struggle to maintain coverage in a sagging economy. Currently, only 46% of small businesses with three to nine employees offer coverage, as compared with 95% of California businesses with over 50 employees offering coverage to their workers.
This is a preview of
Many California Small Businesses Can Get Health Coverage Credit
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Read the full post (167 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)
Tags: group health, health care reform, health insurance, tax credits
Posted in Employees, Employers, Federal, Laws | No Comments »
Monday, August 30th, 2010
One outstanding declaration in President Obama’s health care reform plan is the promise people who like their current health plan will have the option to keep it. How will this work? The plan is to grandfather in policies in order to “protect the ability of individuals and businesses to keep their current plan while providing important consumer protections that give Americans – rather than insurance companies – control over their health care”, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury. Also, “The new regulation also provides stability and flexibility to insurers and businesses that offer health insurance coverage as the nation transitions to a more competitive marketplace in 2014 when businesses and consumers will have more affordable choices through exchanges”*.
This is a preview of
Rules Governing Grandfathered Health Plans
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Read the full post (388 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)
Tags: Coinsurance, deductibles, group health, health care reform, Universal Health Care
Posted in Employees, Employers, Federal, Government Run Health Plan, Group, Laws | No Comments »
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Though many insurers have implemented the law early, which states adult dependents may remain on their parent’s plan until the age of 26, there have been a surprising number of employers who opted out of the earlier implementation of this law. Instead, they are waiting until they are legally required to do so – January 2011. Even though provisions of this law take effect September 23, 2010, employers do not have to comply with this until the New Year.
Tags: children's health, health insurance, individual health
Posted in Employees, Family, Federal, Laws, Resources, Tools | No Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
While many young adults faced losing coverage as they aged off their parent’s plan, had no coverage in the case of an unexpected pregnancy, or merely had the bare necessities covered by their school plans, all can breathe a sigh of relief as health care reform promises to end their fears.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the most immediate change is coverage will be extended to overage dependents, as long as they are not offered other employer sponsored coverage, up through their 26th birthday. This helps ease the burden of uninsured claims, as many of these adult children would wait over two years before attempting to obtain their own coverage.
This is a preview of
Many Important Health Care Reform Changes for Young Adults
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Read the full post (320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)
Tags: children's health, group health, health insurance, heath insurance, Universal Health Care
Posted in Employees, Employers, Family, Federal, Laws | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
As planned during six months following the signing of the health care reform bill, coverage will be extended for dependents up to the age of 26. This will allow parents to continue to offer health insurance coverage to their dependent children, even if those children do not live in the same household. This also holds true for young adults under 26 living out of state, and those that are married. Basically, unless they are offered employer sponsored health insurance, they can continue to remain on their parent’s coverage.
This is a preview of
Insurers to Offer Overage Dependents Coverage Earlier Than Anticipated
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Read the full post (177 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)
Tags: children's health, health care reform, heath insurance, individual health
Posted in Employees, Family, Federal, Individual, Laws, Resources | No Comments »
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Though some fine tuning will be taking place, the plan for implementing the Health Care Reform Bill during the first year will (most likely) look something like this:
- Dependent children will be eligible to stay covered under their parent’s plan until their 26th birthday. The House is still pushing to make this coverage last through their 26th birthday.
- Insurers can no longer impose exclusions on pre-existing conditions in children. Children are considered exempt from this until their 19th birthday
- Lifetime maximums on benefits and annual limits on coverage will be discontinued
This is a preview of
The First Year for Health Care Reform – Step One
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Read the full post (225 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)
Tags: doughnut hole, health care reform, health insurance, pre-existing, preventative care, Universal Health Care
Posted in Federal, General, Government Run Health Plan, Laws | No Comments »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
No one really knows! It seems that revisions are made by the hour, and nothing is quite set in stone as of yet. Also (as of this hour) 11 states have filed lawsuits stating that the bill is unconstitutional, in that it forces people to pay for coverage or face financial penalties. Does it promise to cover all Americans? Supposedly, by 2014, after spending the next few years inching towards this goal by means of guaranteed issue policies, no lifetime maximum amounts, the cessation of policy rescission’s, etc. Once this is in place, individual policies would be purchased via an exchange:
This is a preview of
Health Care Reform is here! What does this mean for you?
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Read the full post (298 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)
Tags: health insurance, individual health, pre-existing, underwriting, Universal Health Care
Posted in Federal, Government Run Health Plan, Laws, Resources, Tools | No Comments »
