FIRST MONDAY

THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS?

As you all know, the House of Representatives passed the 2,000 plus pages of the health care reform package that the Senate approved in December. The House also passed a series of changes in another 150 pages, which the Senate still has to pass. Once the two laws are signed by the President, they need to be interpreted in regulations. Each responsible federal department and each state will have to determine the rules and regulations in order to implement the law. 

SO WHAT IMPACT WILL THIS HAVE ON YOU AND YOUR CURRENT HEALTH INSURANCE?

All these changes need to be reconciled with rules already in place in New York State. At this time, we don’t know how that will be accomplished. Nothing is going to happen immediately but we will probably begin seeing some of the changes in 2011 while many will be rolled out in subsequent years. The bottom line is that no one really knows all the implications of this legislation and many falsehoods are being stated as fact. We will continue to monitor the legislation and work with Federal officials to understand all aspects of the changes and report to you as we are better informed. 

IF THE BILL MOVES FORWARD IN IT’S PRESENT FORM, HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN THE FIRST YEAR:

> Immediate access to high risk pools for people who have no insurance because of pre-existing conditions but these pools still need to be created.

> Tax credits for some small businesses to help them provide health insurance.  We don’t currently know the mandates being imposed on small businesses or how the government will monitor the small businesses.

> There will be restrictions on rescissions which allow insurance companies to cancel a policy for a reason other than fraud.

> There will be no lifetime limits on certain benefits and restrictions on annual limits.

> There will be a tighter definition of qualified medical expenses for Health Savings Accounts including prohibiting use of an HSA for over the counter drugs.

Currently the law will require employers with more than 50 employees in 2014 to provide coverage or face penalties.

This is what we know today. Make sure you visit our Health Care Corner on our website at  www.amherst.org for regular updates.