Health Care Reform As It Stands Today
Does health care reform impact my health insurance coverage
right now? Almost all the provisions of health care reform are
phased-in between now through 2014. Provisions and implementation dates vary
widely among individual, Medicare and group/business coverages. Please consult
with Laven Customer Service Representative Steve Webster at 574.291.5510 for details
specific to your situation. Should I change anything about my health insurance
coverage now to prepare for upcoming changes? Not immediately. As best we can tell, changing any coverage
right now will not help or hurt your insurance position. Is Medicare directly affected by health care reform? Yes. Medicare Advantage funds and reimbursements by Medicare
Advantage to health care providers will be reduced or cut in many instances as
early as January 1, 2011. Other cuts will be phased in over a period of time
through 2019. Therefore you may face higher premiums or co-payment amounts for
Medicare Advantage. Are there other impacts on Medicare? Yes. There are specific new payments made by Medicare and
Medicare Advantage to help cover the prescription drug "doughnut hole". These
payments will be $250 if you reach the gap or doughnut hole or are on public
assistance. We remind you that Medicare Advantage open enrollment is from
November 15 through December 31, 2010. For more specific information as it applies to your
situation, please call our Medicare specialist Steve Webster at 574-291-5510.
Medi-Gap insurance is not phased out as a result of comprehensive health care
reform. Does health care reform impact long-term care insurance? Yes. One provision is the Community Living Assistance
Services and Support (CLASS) Act will make long-term care insurance available
to all Americans, who will be automatically enrolled with the choice to opt
out. Individuals
will begin paying a premium immediately and, after five years, those with
functional limitations have the option of receiving a cash benefit of around
$50 a day that can be used to offset the cost of long-term care services.
How will health care reform impact business owners or
workplace provided insurance? It depends. If you are a firm with more than 50 employees,
and do not offer health insurance as a benefit, and at least one of your
full-time employees gets
a subsidy from the federal government to purchase health insurance on his
or her own, you would have to pay Washington a fee of $2,000 for every one of
your full-time workers. Company accountants take note: you could subtract the
first 30 of your employees from that assessment. What other workplace / workforce impacts with there be? So-called "Cadillac" plans costing more than
$10,200 a year for individuals or $27,500 for family coverage (not counting
dental and vision plans) will be subject to a 40% tax on the portion of the
cost that exceeds the limit on a household by household basis. When do the new health care reform business requirements
take effect? In most cases they will be phased-in through January 1,
2014. Is health care reform set in stone? No. As with any piece of legislation, especially one as
large as this, administrative rules, regulations and implementation invariably
require regulatory or additional legislative changes to fix things not
originally considered. Where can I get more information pertaining to my
situation? Laven Insurance prides itself on having delivered personal
service for over 80 years, so please consider us as your primary resource for
information to help you make effective choices to positively affect your
coverages. Call us at 574.291.5510 email us at laven@insurancemichiana.com or
seek out other professional objective expertise at www.nahu.org.
Laven Insurance will do
everything possible to keep you updated on changes and interpretations that
will impact your life as our valued customers. | 
