Although the appeals provision of the health care reform law was effective in 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor provided an enforcement grace period until July 2011 for some requirements until additional guidance is issued. We are anticipating further guidance, which we believe may address some requirements that we and other carriers have expressed concern [...]

In a recent sit down in Washington, regulators and policymakers from several key agencies and associations sat down to discuss several issues.  Amongst those issues discussed were: Several common themes emerged during the meetings: Timelines Both the public and private sector policy experts appear to be genuinely concerned about addressing PPACA’s quick timelines for implementation. [...]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or health care reform law) established several new standards for private health insurance coverage. As part of these standards, the law established federal definitions of “small employer” and “large employer” for health insurance markets. Previously, states defined these markets. From now until 2016, states can define the size [...]

An interesting thing happened the other day. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made an amendment to current grandfathering regulations. Previously, an employer group health plan could lose its grandfather status if the employer, among other actions, changed health insurers. Thanks to this recent amendment, employers have more flexibility to shop their coverage [...]

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is committed to offering a broad range of products and services that meet customer needs in the changing health insurance market, and to implementing the new health care reform legislation in a way that benefits our customers and members. We have reviewed the rules regarding the provisions of the [...]

Removing lifetime and annual dollar limits for essential health benefits As part of the health care reform law, health insurance companies must remove lifetime and annual dollar limits on covered services (in network and out of network) that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) considers “essential health benefits.” This change goes into [...]