Clearing Up Confusion About Health Reform’s Out-of-Pocket Protections

Recent media coverage may have sown confusion about health reform’s requirement that health insurance plans cap how much consumers can pay out-of-pocket each year for medical care. The bottom line: for many plans, the protections will take effect as scheduled in 2014. Some plans will be able to wait an extra year to fully comply.

The health reform law requires that, starting next year, private insurance plans limit how much in cost-sharing charges — deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance — that people enrolled in a plan must pay each year for covered benefits provided by the plan’s network of health care providers. (This includes plans offered in the individual market or through employers. The requirement doesn’t apply to “grandfathered” plans.) In 2014, this “maximum out-of-pocket limit” will be $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family.

Back in February, the Obama Administration provided an additional year to fully comply with this requirement but only for certain plans offered by employers.

Here are some clarifications about the February policy:

Health insurance plans in the individual market: In 2014, the maximum out-of-pocket limit will apply, as scheduled, to the individual (non-group) health insurance market. Millions of people are expected to gain coverage in this market in 2014, as health reform’s new improvements and federal subsidies significantly increase access to affordable coverage.

Employer-sponsored health insurance plans: The maximum out-of-pocket limit will also continue to generally apply to non-grandfathered plans offered by employers, including small group, large group, and self-insured plans. Employer plans that have a single insurer or administrator have to fully comply with the limit next year.

Employer plans that have “separately administered” benefits: The Administration provided the exception in February for these plans, in which an employer has one insurer or administrator for its primary package of health benefits and a different insurer or administrator for discrete benefits, such as prescription drugs. Because employers and insurers have claimed it will be difficult to coordinate an overall maximum out-of-pocket limit across separately administered benefits, they sought and received the ability to avoid full compliance for one year.

Even those employer plans with “separately administered” benefits that qualify for the delay still must apply some out-of-pocket limits in 2014. As the February guidance explained, these plans must ensure that their primary package of health benefits has an out-of-pocket limit of no more than $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families. A separately administered benefit, such as prescription drugs, that already has an existing limit on out-of-pocket costs must comply with the limits of $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families in 2014.

An employer plan wouldn’t have to add a cap to a separate benefit if the separate benefit currently lacks one. But this exception shouldn’t be misunderstood as broadly waiving the important out-of-pocket protection that health reform will bring in 2014.

Sarah Lueck
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

(This was originally posted here on the Off the Charts Blog)

Five Reasons Why States Should Act Quickly to Set Up Health Insurance Exchanges

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, we know that insurers will no longer be able to deny people coverage or charge them more based on their health status or gender, subsidies will be available to help people with low and moderate incomes afford coverage, and a state or federal exchange will be operating in every state in 2014.

A number of states are well on their way to establishing their own exchanges. But many other states instead have dragged their feet, citing uncertainty prior to the high court’s ruling (see map). With last Thursday’s decision, however, states can no longer use that excuse as grounds to avoid implementing the law. States that have said they prefer to operate their own insurance exchanges (rather than have the federal government run the exchanges for them) must act quickly.



Five reasons why states should start or resume planning activities immediately:

1. Deadlines are approaching – quickly. States must officially notify the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by November 16, 2012 – that is, in less than five months – of their intention to operate a state-based exchange and submit an application for federal approval of the exchange’s design and operations.

2. Applications alone won’t be enough. States seeking approval of their exchange proposal have to demonstrate sufficient progress to HHS by January 1, 2013 in order to prove that their state does not need a federally run exchange.

3. Operations will start before 2014. Exchanges – whether state- or federally run – will have to start enrolling individuals, families, and small businesses by October 1, 2013. States operating an exchange will also need to ensure they can determine eligibility for federal premium and cost-sharing subsidies available to individuals with low and moderate incomes who will buy coverage through the exchange. They also must be able to coordinate with their state Medicaid and CHIP programs. This means that new and improved information technology systems must be developed and tested.

4. Key policy decisions will take time. States must decide how they’ll approach and implement a wide variety of policies, such as financing operations of the exchange after 2014, selecting health plans to be sold in the exchange, conducting outreach and education to consumers, and developing services to attract small businesses.

5. Federal grant funds are available to fully fund states’ exchange set-up costs. States can apply for and receive federal funds that will finance all costs related to the design and launch of their exchanges. The funds can be used to conduct research on their insurance market, develop or upgrade their IT systems, hire and train staff, as well as support all operating costs for the exchange’s first year. The grants will be provided through 2014, as long as funds are available. But the sooner states access the funds, the sooner they can put them to work – and increase their chances of meeting all of the important implementation deadlines.

Despite these factors, leaders in several states responded to the Supreme Court decision by continuing to delay their own decisions on whether to move forward and create a state-based exchange. Because of the time crunch, this foot-dragging could effectively be a decision in itself – to forgo any chance of operating an exchange themselves and instead default to an exchange set up by the federal government.

Dave Chandra
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

(Original post can be found here on the Off the Charts Blog)