More than a million Americans are about to receive letters in the mail informing them that their health insurance falls short of some key standards that have been created by the new health care laws. These letters will point out exactly what ways your health insurance is below the new standards. Will you be one of the millions getting a letter like this?
These letters of notice are going to people who have limited-benefit health insurance plans. The insurance can come from either a person’s employer, or might be an individual health care policy. These are the kinds of health insurance plans that have a cap, or limit, on how much money the insurance will cover on medical bills in a given year. Some of these plans have limits that are as low as $2,000, which isn’t very much at all. After the cap has been reached, the insurance stops covering the cost of the insured person’s medical care.
In 2014, there will be a law that bans annual limits, or caps, on health insurance plans. Until then, an insurance plan that has an annual limit of $750,000, or more, is acceptable. However, caps that are below that dollar amount are not allowed. The Department of Health and Human Services is able to grant waivers in regards to this new regulation for some health insurance companies. A waiver might be issued if the new regulations would cause too big an increase in the cost of premiums, or if the new laws would result in having too many people lose their health insurance, entirely. McDonald’s is one of the companies that was issued a waiver for the limited-benefit health insurance it offers to it’s employees.
One of the reasons that these letters of notice are being sent out is to clarify things for the people who have health insurance that will soon be below the standards of the law. Too many people have been given a false sense of security, because they do not understand how very limited their health insurance policy really is. These letters are going to provide a “wake up call” for people who have insufficient insurance policies. It is better to find out about it from one of these letters, than to make that discovery after having a serious illness, or a major surgery, that your insurance company refused to cover. By then, it’s too late!
Image by Tim Morgan on Flickr