Group Health Insurance

Survey results seem to indicate that large employers will not hold up plan design changes in 2011 in order to keep grandfather status. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) surveyed the largest employers to determine what changes to plan design they are planning for 2011.

The health reform law's new restrictions on pre-existing condition exclusions, coverage rescissions and lifetime or annual limits were fleshed out in interim final rules from the U. S. Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Labor (DOL).

In its interim final rules on grandfathered plan status, the government's goal appears to be to maximize the number of companies covered by insurance mandates and maximize the circumstances under which companies lose grandfather status.

An interim final rule issued May 10 by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services provides details on the obligation group health plans have under the health care reform law to cover the children of employees until their 26th birthday.

Employers with cafeteria plans may immediately permit employees to begin making pre-tax salary reduction contributions to provide coverage for children under age 27 under the health care reform law, even if the plan has not yet been amended to cover those individuals, the IRS explained in Notice 2010-38 issued on April 27.

The sweeping health care reform law enacted in March will affect the delivery and administration of group health plans for every employer and employee in the country. So it is fair to ask, "What does this mean from a COBRA coverage perspective?" The answer is— not much.

 
If you haven’t looked at your health plan’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) charges lately, you’re probably paying too much. As medical costs rise, pharmacy expenditures could be low-hanging fruit for cost cutting.

Group health plans may not impose separate deductibles for mental health and medical coverage, under federal rules issued Feb. 2 (75 Fed. Reg. 5410) to implement the mental health parity expansion law Congress enacted in 2008.

On the eve of President Obama's State of the Union speech, members of Congress were meeting to figure out ways to salvage health reform in the wake of an election loss that ended the Democrats' 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the U.

As required by a new law that extended the COBRA premium subsidy program, model notices explaining an individual's right to the subsidy have been issued by the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL).

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) as originally enacted in February 2009, "assistance-eligible individuals" (AEI) were entitled to receive a 65-percent subsidy for continuation coverage premiums for up to nine months if they elected COBRA (or comparable state continuation) coverage and had: (1) a loss of group health coverage as a result of an involuntary termination of employment (other than gross misconduct); (2) incurred the qualifying event and loss of coverage between Sept.