Wednesday, September 01, 2010
So Long Grandfather
If you like your health insurance plan you may not be able to keep it. We noted in June that existing employer health insurance plans are not required to adopt certain aspects of the new federal health care law (e.g. prohibition of co-pays for preventive services, coverage of adult dependents to age 26 that have other job-based coverage) unless they make plan changes that cause a loss of “grandfathered” status.” Well, for most Maryland employers, grandfather has died.
In order to simplify plan administration, most health insurance carriers serving the small group market and fully-insured larger groups in Maryland are no longer offering plans that recognize grandfathered benefit levels. Additionally, the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Maryland Health Care Commission are in the process of issuing emergency regulations that would preclude carriers from recognizing grandfathered plans in the small group market for plan years after September 23, 2010. A survey by the National Business Group on Health shows that most larger employers are also throwing in the towel on grandfathering, concluding that it is more important to adjust plan features that will contain costs than freeze the benefit design and maintain grandfathered status. See the survey.
Contact Ron Wineholt for further information at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
