Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com
8/17/2011
(CNSNews.com) – A proposed federal health insurance regulation set to take effect next year requires insurers to provide consumers with explanatory summaries of their plans, but the insurance industry contends this could be costly to enrollees, and offer little benefit.
The new rule – part of the $1 trillion Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare – was announced Wednesday by Donald Berwick, President Obama’s recess appointee to be director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Berwick has never been confirmed or subjected to a confirmation hearing by a Democrat-controlled Senate.
Specifically, the proposed regulations would ensure that consumers have access to two forms to help them understand and evaluate their health insurance choices.
One of the forms would be a four-page “easy to understand” summary of benefits and coverage made available to anyone purchasing or currently holding a health insurance policy. The other would include a “uniform glossary of terms” commonly used in health insurance coverage, such as “deductible” and “co-pay.”…
…“The benefits of providing a new summary of coverage document must be balanced against the increased administrative burden and higher costs to consumers and employers,” Zirkelbach said in a statement.
“For example, since most large employers customize the benefit packages they provide to their employees, some health plans could be required to create tens of thousands of different versions of this new document – which would add administrative costs without meaningfully helping employees.”
Read the entire article at CNSNews.com. Also at the site, Obama: Forcing People to Buy Health Insurance ‘Should Not Be Controversial’
H/T Protein Wisdom
