Small Business Health Insurance Milwaukee Wisconsin

Insurance Premium Rebates Are On The Way
Federal guidelines released Friday 5/11/12 require that individuals set to premium rebates receive a mailing stating "This letter is to inform you that you will receive a rebate of a portion of your health insurance premiums. This rebate is required by the Affordable Care Act - the health reform law." Insurers will also have to send a different letter to those not receiving a rebate, letting those individuals know that no rebate is coming because the insurer has met the financial targets under the law.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has projected refunds will total about $1.3 billion, and be distributed amongst roughly 16 million individuals. For those receiving checks, that works out to an average of $127 for those with individual coverage and $72 for those with employer-based coverage. Republican health policy analyst Chris Jacobs asked "Given that candidate Obama promised premiums would go down by $2,500, how does a $127 rebate check represent a "Game Changer"?

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a speech to doctors last month, urged them to use their authority "to educate people" about the benefits of the law. "We don't need to tell them that the Affordable Care Act is going to change the world. We just nee dot tell them how the law can help, right now."

Email Jon Rauser with any questions, or to discuss further.

All Eyes On The Supreme Court
The insurance industry is working on contingency plans in case the Supreme Court strikes down a central part of the law in the coming months. The worst-case scenario: The court knocks out the law's mandate that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fee but leaves in place requirements that insurers sell policies to all applicants. The result would be spiraling insurance premiums, because sick people would buy insurance and nothing would stop healthy people from waiting to buy it until they needed it.

Several officials from large health insurers said that if the mandate were struck down, their first priority would be persuading members of Congress to repeal two of the law's major insurance changes: a requirement to cover everyone regardless of his or her medical history, and limits on how much insurers can vary premiums based on age. The next step, they say, would be to set rewards for people who purchase insurance voluntarily and sanction those who don't.

The insurance industry would face hurdles in persuading lawmakers to take action, especially in an election year. Republicans who have tried to amend parts of the law have faced criticism from other opponents of the act, who say it is a strategic mistake to try to make what they consider a bad law slightly better.

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Medicare Bonus Program Under Scrutiny
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has called in to question the effectiveness of an $8.3 billion bonus payment system for Medicare Advantage health plans. Members of the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission have also cast their doubts about the program.

These bonus programs could be interpreted as delaying the inevitable cuts to these private insurance plans. Benjamin Sasse, former HHS assistant secretary, wrote in an op-ed, "About a quarter of seniors in America are on a private insurance plan that they opt into, as opposed to the traditional public plan. The President and the Administration are opposed to these private insurance plans, and so one of the ways they came up with money to pay for Obamacare is by cutting these plans, but they decided they don't want the American people, grandma in particular, to know about it until after the election."

Email Jon Rauser with any questions, or to discuss further.