Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed two bills (SB 900 and AB 1602) which puts California at the forefront of establishing health insurance exchanges. Although these exchanges won’t be open for business until 2014, this bill will start California on the road to implementing this vital piece of health care reform. Federal guidelines do outline how the exchanges work, but each state is allowed leeway to create the exchange to work with their individual state’s needs. Proponents of this bill believe that as California becomes the first state to being the framework, it is expected that other states will be looking to California’s model for guidance in how to create their own structures. Opponents fear that this surely means an increase in taxes and fees.
Archive for the ‘Laws’ Category
Calfornia First In Line To Set Up Health Care Exchanges
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010Blue Shield Ends 12 Month Rate Guarantees
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Should You Grandfather Your Group Plan?
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
- 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.
Grandfathered Plans and Your Options Now
Friday, September 24th, 2010What 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.
Expired COBRA Subsidy Leads to Coverage Lapses
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010The 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.
Many California Small Businesses Can Get Health Coverage Credit
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010It 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.
Rules Governing Grandfathered Health Plans
Monday, August 30th, 2010One 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”*.
Overage Dependent Coverage Hits a Snag
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Though 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.
Many Important Health Care Reform Changes for Young Adults
Thursday, June 17th, 2010While 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.
Insurers to Offer Overage Dependents Coverage Earlier Than Anticipated
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010As 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.
