In just a few months, the federal government will no longer accept applications for health insurance waivers from businesses, corporations, or anyone else. Those who are granted a waiver in the next few months will have it last until 2013. After this, all companies will have to meet the health insurance requirements that are a part of the current reform. How will this affect your family?
Certain health insurance requirements were passed in January of 2011. From that point on, insurers who sell group health insurance policies to employers would have to spend at least 85% of the money that comes from premiums on things that actually improve the health of their customers, or are directly related to their health care needs. Those that sold individual health insurance policies would have to spend at least 80% of the premium money on the same kinds of things.
Health insurance plans that did not meet that criteria (as well as some other ones) were considered to be “below standard”. This included the infamous mini-med plans offered by big corporations like McDonald’s, as well as many other restaurants. Many of these businesses decided that complying with the health care regulations was going to be too expensive for them, so they threatened to completely stop offering health insurance to their employees at all.
To prevent a situation where thousands of people could suddenly lose their only form of health insurance, the federal government issued insurance waivers to some of these corporations and businesses. This basically allowed them to continue offering their sub-standard health insurance plans for a little while longer.
After September 22, 2011, no more applications for health insurance waivers will be accepted. This means that no new ones will be issued. It also means no applications for renewal of, or extension of, existing waivers will be granted after that time.
This means that if your family is currently being covered by a mini-med health plan, they should continue to be until the waiver runs out. In 2012, all health insurance plans will be required to provide a customer with at least $1.25 million in coverage. In 2013, the minimum increases to $2 million dollars.
In 2014, all health insurance companies will be banned from setting an annual limit on the dollar amount of health care coverage they provide a customers. This is the same time that the health insurance exchanges are intended to be up and running.
It seems to me that the discontinuation of insurance waivers is not going to result in having all businesses spontaneously dropping their employer sponsored health insurance plans. Instead, it will force them to gradually comply to the new regulations. Overall, this should lead to better health insurance coverage for everyone.
Image by Pink Sherbet Photography on Flickr