On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (the "Act"), the comprehensive health care reform legislation originally passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, and passed by the House of Representatives on March 21, 2009.
On the same date, the House passed the Health Care and Education Tax Credit Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the "Reconciliation Bill"), which makes changes to key provisions of the Act. The Reconciliation Bill was approved by the Senate on March 25, 2010 with two minor changes unrelated to group health plans. Those changes were approved by the House, and it was signed by the President on Tuesday, March 30.
Some of the new legislation takes effect as early as September 2010, other parts in 2013, 2014 and some even in 2018.
A short list of the immediate concerns for the IBA Group Insurance Trust and all health plans are:
- Elimination of lifetime limits;
- Restriction on annual limits;
- Required first dollar coverage of preventive care;
- Required coverage of children to the age of 26;
- New Uniform Explanation of Coverage requirements (Required in 2012);
- New transparency requirements;
- Extension of Code Section 105(h) nondiscrimination rules to fully-insured plans;
- Transitional High-Risk Pools;
- Reporting requirements;
- Claims procedures requirements.
These changes are significant and will apply to any and all employers currently maintaining group health plans. As one might expect, there has been a great deal of attention given to the new laws and information is coming from a variety of sources.
The problem is that these new laws and regulations will not affect every plan the same way. Therefore, we are in the process of investigating these changes and how they will specifically impact the Trust. There are a lot of detailed questions about the The Act and the Reconciliation Bill that need to be answered before we can properly respond to Trust member questions and give you all proper guidance.
Rest assured that the Trust's insurer (Principal Life Insurance Company), its benefits consultant (Capstone Benefits Group) and its legal representatives (Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP) are researching the healthcare reform legislation and we will get back to you with updated and accurate information.
