A local family that bought what they thought was a premium plan discovered they were going to have to pay thousands of dollars per year out of pocket for what other insurance plans would have covered.
Assess employers with 50 or more employees that do not offer coverage and have at least one full-time employee who receives a premium tax credit a fee of $2,000 per full-time employee, excluding the first 30 employees from the assessment. Employers with 50 or more employees that offer coverage but have at least one full-time employee receiving a premium tax credit, will pay the lesser of $3,000 for each employee receiving a premium credit or $2,000 for each full-time employee, excluding the first 30 employees from the assessment. Require employers with more than 200 employees to automatically enroll employees into health insurance plans offered by the employer. Employees may opt out of coverage.
Permit employers to offer employees rewards of up to 30%, increasing to 50% if appropriate, of the cost of coverage for participating in a wellness program and meeting certain health-related standards. Establish 10-state pilot programs to permit participating states to apply similar rewards for participating in wellness programs in the individual market.
Create a new “Cadillac” tax on high-cost insurance policies.
Permit states to form health care choice compacts and allow insurers to sell policies in any state participating in the compact. (Compacts may not take effect before January 1, 2016)
Create an essential health benefits package that provides a comprehensive set of services, covers at least 60% of the actuarial value of the covered benefits, limits annual cost-sharing to the current law HSA limits ($5,950/individual and $11,900/family in 2010), and is not more extensive than the typical employer plan.
Reduce the out-of-pocket limits for those with incomes up to 400% FPL to the following levels:
- 100-200% FPL: one-third of the HSA limits ($1,983/individual and $3,967/family);
- 200-300% FPL: one-half of the HSA limits ($2,975/individual and $5,950/family);
- 300-400% FPL: two-thirds of the HSA limits ($3,987/individual and $7,973/family).
Create a temporary reinsurance program to collect payments from health insurers in the individual and group markets to provide payments to plans in the individual market that cover high-risk individuals.
Require the Office of Personnel Management to contract with insurers to offer at least two multi-state plans in each Exchange. At least one plan must be offered by a non-profit entity and at least one plan must not provide coverage for abortions beyond those permitted by federal law.
Limit deductibles for health plans in the small group market to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families unless contributions are offered that offset deductible amounts above these limits.