Early Retiree Reinsurance Program Applications Begin Now

Applications for reimbursements from the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (EERP) may be submitted now, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (OCIIO) has announced. The OCIIO on June 29 published the official ERRP program application, the address for submitting the application, official ERRP application instructions, and application “dos and don’ts.”

Links to these documents and to other pertinent information are available at this Web page . Plans are encouraged to check this Web page periodically for HHS announcements on upcoming program-related training events.

Applications to the program must be signed and submitted in hard copy to HHS ERRP Application Center, 4700 Corridor Place, Suite D, Beltsville, MD 20705

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, established a temporary reinsurance program to reimburse part of the claims costs for participating employment based plans that provide health insurance coverage for early retirees ages 55 through 64, and their eligible spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents. The EERP will reimburse for 80% of a plan's individual claims that are between $15,000 and $90,000, indexed for inflation. The program is effective June 1, 2010, and ends on the earlier of Jan. 1, 2014, or when the $5 billion appropriated for the program is exhausted Program participants will be able to submit claims for medical care going back to June 1, 2010, HHS added. This program has been the subject of many of our blogs recently, including here and here.

More than half of employers that currently offer retiree medical plans to early retirees plan to apply for the EERP, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans reported recently from its survey of 1,021 employers