The Affordable Care Act gives American families and businesses more control over their health care by providing greater benefits and protections for family members and employees. It also provides the stability, and also the flexibility, that families and businesses need to make the choices that work best for them.
During the health reform debate, President Obama made clear to Americans that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it.” He emphasized that there is nothing in the new law that would force them to change plans or doctors. Today, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued a new regulation for health coverage in place on March 23, 2010 that makes good on that promise by:
- Protecting the ability of individuals and businesses to keep their current plan;
- Providing important consumer protections that give Americans – rather than insurance companies – control over their own health care.
- Providing stability and flexibility to insurers and businesses that offer insurance coverage as the nation transitions to a more competitive marketplace in 2014 where businesses and consumers will have more affordable choices through Exchanges.
The rule announced today preserves the ability of the American people to keep their current plan if they like it, while providing new benefits, by minimizing market disruption and putting us on a glide path toward the competitive, patient-centered market of the future. While it requires all health plans to provide important new benefits to consumers, it allows plans that existed on March 23, 2010 to innovate and contain costs by allowing insurers and employers to make routine changes without losing grandfather status. Plans will lose their “grandfather” status if they choose to significantly cut benefits or increase out-of-pocket spending for consumers – and consumers in plans that make such changes will gain new consumer protections.
Most of the 133 million Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance through large employers will maintain the coverage they have today. Large employer-based plans already offer most of the comprehensive benefits and consumer protections that the Affordable Care Act will provide to all Americans this year – such as preventing lifetime limits on coverage – and in the future.
People who work in smaller firms – which change insurers more often due to annual fluctuations in premiums – and people who purchase their own insurance in the individual market– a group that frequently changes coverage – will enjoy all of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act when they choose a new plan. These Americans also will benefit from the new competitive Exchanges that will be established in 2014 to offer individuals and workers in small businesses with greater choice of plans at more affordable rates – the same choice of plans as members of Congress.
Continue article at- http://www.healthreform.gov/newsroom/keeping_the_health_plan_you_have.html
Robert Ellis & Associates bulleted summary: Health Reform Highlights lby REA 4 10
NAHU (Source- www.nahu.org )- Health Reform NAHU 3 25 10
Robert Ellis & Associates Insurance Agency (Mandeville, LA; Baton Rouge, LA and Jackson, MS) specializes in health insurance among other areas for clients all over Louisiana and Mississippi. Specifically, we have a carrier that is unique in the industry and can work with large groups, small groups and even individual policyholders. We have the latest updates on health care reform and have additional markets that other agencies do not have access (exclusive with an A+ Blue Cross Blue Shield company, professional associations and other markets). Finally, we can show unique strategies to save money via health reimbursement arrangements (HRA), traditional co-pay plans with gap coverages, health savings accounts (personal favorite, virtually untouched with health care reform), or just a more competitive plan for your individual situation.
If you would like to see if you are in the best available plan in your area or just discuss the condition of the market given the health care reform implementation schedule, send David Ellis an email at dellis@ellis4u.com or call at w#985-674-3888.
Regardless, I hope you enjoy www.NorthshoreLinks.com and the 2 sister sites- www.GNOLinks.com and www.BatonRougeLinks.com- all 3 community sites put together for your ease of navigation and pleasure.
Consumers searching for health insurance coverage since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (PPACA) should be on the lookout for scammers hoping to take advantage of the confusion surrounding the details of the new law. State insurance regulators are receiving complaints about scam artists going door-to-door selling fake insurance policies or claiming there is a limited open-enrollment period to buy health insurance. Some of these scam artists have even set up bogus toll-free numbers to sell policies. The Louisiana Department of Insurance warns consumers who have been offered a policy that is a “limited-time offer,” has limited benefits or is advertised as necessitated by health insurance reform, to STOP before signing anything or making a payment, CALL the Louisiana Department of Insurance and CONFIRM that the policy, agent, and company are legitimate.
While there are many changes coming in the health insurance marketplace, there are no provisions in the PPACA that require consumers to make immediate modifications to their health coverage. Many of the initial changes will go into effect six months from when the law was signed by President Obama – or September of this year. Until then, agencies in Louisiana and the federal government are working on implementing the changes. This means designing and putting into place at the state level many of the new consumer programs and regulations.
Don’t Be Misled! Here are some important “red flags” to watch out for:
- The agent or salesperson says the premium offer is only good for a limited enrollment period.
There is no open enrollment period currently associated with the new health care law, so if the salesperson is pressuring you to buy the policy because the price or option is only good for a short time, be wary. Before you write a check or sign a contract for one of these policies, call the Department of Insurance to make sure the insurance company and agent are licensed in your state and carefully read the contract to make sure you understand the coverage and limitations of the policy.
- The agent or salesperson says the coverage is necessitated or required by the health care reform law.
You may have heard that all Americans will be required to purchase health insurance under the new law, but this requirement does not go into effect until 2014 for most people. If an agent or salesperson implies you have to purchase coverage now, stop and call the Department of Insurance at 1-800-259-5300.
- The agent or salesperson does not explain the coverage included in the policy or does not provide a full list of the coverage.
Limited benefit health insurance plans are legitimate health insurance plans offered by many insurance companies, but some agents or salespeople may not be fully explaining the limits to these policies. These bare bones policies typically have lower premiums, but they only cover specific expenses and have many more limitations than a comprehensive medical plan. These plans also have higher co-insurance percentages, co-payments and deductibles than comprehensive plans. These types of policies also have low maximum benefit limits called “caps,” so it may be possible for you to reach your cap quickly, leaving you responsible for the balance of the bill. If you are considering a limited benefit health insurance plan or a high deductible health insurance plan in conjunction with a Health Savings Account (HSA), be sure to research the plan before signing a contract.
- The agent or salesperson claims the coverage will be “grandfathered” or exempted from changes required by the health care reform law.
Only policies purchased before President Obama signed the PPACA on March 23, 2010, will be ”grandfathered” or exempted from changes required by the law. Any policy purchased now must comply with all of the changes required by the bill to satisfy the individual mandate in 2014. If an agent or salesperson claims otherwise, stop and call the Department of Insurance at 1-800-259-5300.
For a list of the changes included in the PPACA and when they will go into effect, visit the NAIC Health and Managed Care Committee Web page ( http://www.naic.org/committees_b.htm) and look for the PPACA charts. Information can also be found on the White House Web site ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform) and the HHS Web site ( http://www.healthreform.gov/). Commissioner Donelon urges consumers who feel uneasy about any insurance related transaction to call the Department of Insurance Fraud Section at 225-342-4956 or 1-800-259-5300. If callers do not want their names used, they can request that their involvement be kept confidential.
Here are two excerpts from WSJ article of 3-1-2010 by Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana:Subject: Mitch Daniels on HSAs – WSJ
This is by far the most radical and most successful experiment in the country using HSAs for state employees. Surely every governor will quickly follow the lead of Governor Daniels…
Hoosiers and Health Savings Accounts
An Indiana experiment that is reducing costs for the state and its employees.
As Washington prepares to revisit the subject of health-care reform, perhaps some fresh experience from Middle America would be of value.
When I was elected governor of Indiana five years ago, I asked that a consumer-directed health insurance option, or Health Savings Account (HSA), be added to the conventional plans then available to state employees. I thought this additional choice might work well for at least a few of my co-workers, and in the first year some 4% of us signed up for it.
In Indiana’s HSA, the state deposits $2,750 per year into an account controlled by the employee, out of which he pays all his health bills. Indiana covers the premium for the plan. The intent is that participants will become more cost-conscious and careful about overpayment or overutilization.
Unused funds in the account—to date some $30 million or about $2,000 per employee and growing fast—are the worker’s permanent property. For the very small number of employees (about 6% last year) who use their entire account balance, the state shares further health costs up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8,000, after which the employee is completely protected.
The HSA option has proven highly popular. This year, over 70% of our 30,000 Indiana state workers chose it, by far the highest in public-sector America. Due to the rejection of these plans by government unions, the average use of HSAs in the public sector across the country is just 2%.
What we, and independent health-care experts at Mercer Consulting, have found is that individually owned and directed health-care coverage has a startlingly positive effect on costs for both employees and the state. What follows is a summary of our experience:
Click the link below for the remaining part of this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704231304575091600470293066.html
If you already have a Roth IRA, you’re aware of its biggest benefit: Your earnings grow tax free, provided you meet certain conditions. If you don’t have a Roth IRA, you may want to consider one — and it may be easier for you to do just that in 2010.
Before we get to the reasons why 2010 may be your year to open or convert to a Roth IRA, let’s look at some differences between Roth and traditional IRAs. If you own a traditional IRA, your contributions may be tax-deductible, depending on your income level. But whether you can make deductible contributions or not, your earnings grow on a tax-deferred basis, which means your money can grow faster than it would if it were placed in an investment on which you paid taxes every year. On the other hand, Roth IRA contributions are never tax-deductible, but your earnings grow tax free, as long as you’ve held your account at least five years and you don’t start taking withdrawals until you’re at least age 59½.
Furthermore, unlike a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA does not require you to start taking distributions when you reach 70½. Consequently, you’ll have more flexibility and freedom when it comes to making withdrawals.
If you have a traditional IRA, you might be thinking it’s a good idea to convert to a Roth IRA because tax free sounds better than tax deferred — and, all things being equal, tax free would indeed be better. However, it’s not quite that simple. If you convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you’ll have to pay taxes on those traditional IRA earnings and contributions that had previously gone untaxed. If you do convert, you’ll be better off if you use money held outside your IRA to pay the taxes. If you simply take money from your IRA, you’ll obviously lower the value of your IRA — and, if you’re under 59½, you may have to pay an additional 10% penalty on the amount you withdraw to pay the taxes.
In the past, many investors have been prohibited from converting their IRAs due to either their tax filing status or their income. Under previous rules, you could convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA only if you were married and filed a joint return or were a single filer, and your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) was $100,000 or less. But starting in 2010, you can convert funds to a Roth IRA even if your MAGI is over $100,000. You will also be able to convert to a Roth if you are married and file separate tax returns.
And that’s not the only piece of good news regarding your conversion ability. As mentioned above, you will have to pay taxes when you convert to a Roth IRA. A conversion is usually reported as income for the tax year the conversion takes place. However, in 2010 only, your conversion amount will be split and reported as income for tax years 2011 and 2012 unless you elect to report the entire conversion amount on your 2010 taxes. You may find that spreading the taxes over two years can make the conversion more affordable.
In any case, consult with your tax advisor before converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth. If done correctly, such a conversion can potentially make a big difference in your ultimate retirement lifestyle.
For any questions or comments regarding this post, please call or email:
Evan Gremillion- 985-893-4742
evan.gremillion@edwardjones.com
Website tells all about Louisiana health care facilities
Louisiana residents now have easy access to detailed, accurate information on the cost, quality and performance of health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, as well as health plans and prescription drugs. The state has launched a new website called HealthFinderLA.gov, through which consumers – including children – will be able to access educational materials on living healthier lives, find the usual and customary charges for the Top 100 most commonly prescribed medications, and access information comparing various quality and patient safety measures in Louisiana hospitals, nursing homes and health plans. The site will provide key performance data on health care facilities and health plans, including death rates, readmission rates, dozens of nationally accepted quality and performance measures for health plans, and complication rates for procedures. The website is a product of the Consumer’s Right to Know Act the legislature passed in 2008, which was part of the governor’s legislative package and was authored by Sen. Willie Mount of Lake Charles. The act authorizes DHH to collect a broad range of health care information and publish it on the Internet.
Issue: Health Care
Date: November 19, 2009
Action Taken: On November 18, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) posted on the internet the version of health reform that will be presented to the Senate for debate, amendment and a vote. The bill—2,074 pages long—is systemic reform of the health care delivery and financing system. It is a combination of the bill, S.1679, approved last July by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and S.1796, the bill approved last month by the Senate’s Finance Committee. Procedurally, the combined HELP-Finance bill will be inserted into a shell bill, H.R.3590, for Senate floor debate. Thus, it will become H.R.3590.
NAIFA Position: The Senate bill contains many provisions that NAIFA has long supported including affordability credits, wellness and prevention provisions, guaranteed issue and consumer access to professional agent services.
However, there are a number of health reform issues that need further consideration before the bill will meet NAIFA’s reform goals. It will take some time to do a thorough analysis of this complex legislation, but a summary derived from an initial review of the bill can be viewed here.
The 10-year $849 billion package (which would result in $127 billion in deficit reduction over the 10-year budget window) covers 94 percent of eligible Americans and would reduce the number of uninsured by 31 million, according to analyses provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It is fully offset. About half the offsets come from savings from Medicare, including cuts to Medicare Advantage programs. The other half comes from new taxes. Read about some of these new taxes here.
Next Steps: This legislation will be the subject of Senate debate for the foreseeable future—certainly up until just before Christmas, and likely into January. Numerous amendments are expected, as are repeated procedural efforts to derail the bill. Debate is likely to start, on a preliminary procedural vote, by November 20 or 21. The first step will be a motion to proceed to the bill. It will take 60 votes to cut off debate on the motion to proceed. Whether that can happen prior to Thanksgiving is still uncertain.
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