Confusion over health reform still reigns

It’s been nearly five months since the passage of health reform legislation and a surprising number of people remain confused over what the law says. According to a USA Today article, the “need for outreach became apparent in recent weeks following the release of three polls,” showing the extent of the public confusion and misinformation as to health reform.

For example, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, more than 40 percent of respondents believe, incorrectly, that the new law contains a government panel to make end-of-life decisions for Medicare beneficiaries. A Harris Interactive poll found that more than a third of respondents, again incorrectly, believe that health reform included a public option that would compete with private insurers.

USA Today quotes Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, as calling “the level of ignorance and misinformation” as “astounding.” Taylor suspects that the public is still “reacting to the rhetoric, not the substance” of what’s in the health reform legislation.

If people don’t know what’s in the new law, how can they use it to their benefit?

For more information. For a comprehensive analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and additional information on health reform and other developments in employee benefits, just click here.

HHS Provides Help For Difficulties In Applying To The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

The Department of Health and Human Services Plan has provided additional guidance regarding the application the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) to help the sponsors who submitted incorrect or incomplete applications.

In late June, HHS began accepting applications to the program. HHS now has provided three methods of correcting problems:

First, HHS notes in an update to its ERRP information that some plan sponsors may have submitted their Early Retiree Reinsurance Program applications on the official form, but before having had the chance to review the version of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document that was published on June 29, 2010.

Such sponsors should not submit another application. HHS is developing a process to identify applications that may include an incorrect or incomplete response as a result of the sponsor not having access to the additional FAQs that were posted on June 29, 2010. When such responses are identified, HHS will give sponsors a chance to submit additional information as an attachment to support the original application. The sponsor’s account manager will be contacted via telephone or email in these situations. Sponsors that may have already submitted a second application, after the June 29 FAQs were published, should not contact HHS. HHS is developing a process to respond to those situations.

Second, certain applicants were having difficulty with the on-line application that was posted early the morning of June 29, 2010. A revised copy of the application has been posted that accommodates the entering of numeric sequences that start with zeros in fields requiring numbers (e.g., EIN, phone numbers, etc.). If an applicant had this problem with the early version of the application, HHS will accept what was submitted and contact the sponsor if necessary to ascertain the correct data before making an application determination. Applicants who had completed and submitted the early version of the application but who did not experience a problem entering zeros, do not need to re-complete their application form.

Third, there has been some confusion about how applications should be submitted. Applications should be submitted through the U.S. Postal Service. However, if a sponsor submitted its application in another manner, the application will be accepted for processing, provided the application is otherwise acceptable for processing. However, for operational reasons, HHS prefers sponsors to use the United States Postal Service. If an applicant submitted an application via a carrier other than the United States Postal Service, and it was accepted at the address listed on the official application, do not re-submit the application. Sponsors that may have already submitted a second application, should not contact HHS. HHS is developing a process to respond to such situations.

For a comprehensive analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and additional information on health reform and other developments in employee benefits, just click here.

How Many More Adult Children Will Be Covered Under Health Reform?

There is reason to believe that government estimates of the dependent-child mandate underestimate the size of the population that might enroll in their parents' employment-based coverage, according to study published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).  In addition, according to the August 2010 EBRI Notes, the costs of the mandate are expected to increase health insurance premiums about 0.7% in 2011, 1% in 2012, and 1% in 2013, noted the study, published in the.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision that requires group health plans and insurers to make dependent coverage available for children until they attain age 26 will increase employment-based coverage by estimates ranging from 680,000 to 2.12 million individuals, according to regulations issued in May.

The EBRI report identifies several shortcomings in regulatory assumptions that the 2.6 million 19 to 25 year-olds in states that already allow adult children to enroll in extended coverage are unlikely to enroll under the Affordable Care Act. It is largely impossible to factor in parents' decisions when it comes to enrolling their children, EBRI noted. Contrary to regulatory assumptions, about 3 million of the 7.5 million 25-year-olds with some other form of coverage (such as Medicaid or Tricare) will be eligible to enroll in the PPACA program; and more adult children are likely to become eligible as their parents gain employment.

"It is critical that group plans and insurers understand the size and characteristics of the 19 to 25 year-old population that might be eligible for their parents' health coverage in order to determine the impact that this provision of the Affordable Care Act may have on enrollment and costs of employment-based coverage" wrote Paul Fronstin, director of the EBRI health research and education program.

When compared with the population of workers with employment-based health coverage, the uninsured population age 19 to 25 is more likely to be male, older, Hispanic, and less physically and mentally healthy, the study said. The uninsured population also was determined to be less likely than the population with employment-based health coverage to use preventive health services, to exercise, and to be of normal weight. The uninsured are more likely to smoke and more likely to have asthma.

For more information, visit http://www.ebri.org.

For a comprehensive analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and additional information on health reform and other developments in employee benefits, just click here.