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Health Care Reform
President Barack Obama has signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Pub. L.111-148, and the Health Care and Education Tax Credit Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-152(Reconciliation Bill) into law. The Reconciliation Bill makes technical corrections to the PPACA.
While health care reform is now the law of the land, the dust has hardly settled. All told, these two laws will dramatically change the health care landscape in the years to come. The FCSU will implement each aspect of the laws impacting us as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Many questions remain unanswered and many gray areas still exist. The United States Health and Human Services is charged with much of the implementation. One of the charges to them was web availability, in that they have developed a new site, please visit this ultimate source for valuable information. http://www.healthcare.gov
The changes affecting us now or in the near future include:
- Over-the-counter drugs are no longer reimburseable under health flexible spending accounts (FSAs), unless prescribed. This is noted in bold on your flexible spending enrollment form.
- Children who are not otherwise eligible to enroll in another employer’s plan can be covered by their parents’ plan through age 26.
A memo was sent from VEHI to all enrolled VEHI members advising them how the dependency extension coverage provisions under the new federal health care legislation will affect their 19- to 25-year old dependents.
Two classes of eligible dependents were covered in the memo:
- Eligible Dependents Currently Enrolled Under their Parents’ Health Insurance Plans:
Dependents who are currently enrolled under their parents’ plan will be allowed to stay on those plans. In other words, they do not have to disenroll upon graduation from high school or college, in May or June, for example, and then re-enroll in for October 1 when this provision first becomes effective. - Eligible Dependents NOT Currently Enrolled Under their Parents’ Health Insurance Plan:
Dependents NOT currently enrolled under their parents’ plan can re-enroll, provided they are NOT eligible for health insurance coverage under another employer-sponsored group plan. If you have such a dependent you wish to add, you must complete a Group Enrollment Form (note, please: full-time student information will no longer be necessary). If BCBSVT receives this enrollment form prior to October 1, 2010, the effective date of coverage for these 19- to 25-year-old dependents will be October 1, 2010. If BCBSVT receives the enrollment form after October 1, 2010 but no later than October 31, 2010, the effective date of coverage will be November 1, 2010. Group Enrollment Forms for these dependents that are received on or after November 1, 2010, will be eligible for coverage effective on either January 1 or July 1 of subsequent years, depending on when the applications were received. The exception to this rule is as follows: Dependents in this class will not have to wait to re-enroll on Januaryor July 1, if they lose insurance coverage at any time due to a qualified circumstance (for example, a job loss or a reduction in hours). In the latter case, eligible dependents will be able to enroll in their parents’ plan effective the first of the month at any time of the year after their application is received by BCBSVT.
Again, there are many unanswered questions about what constitutes a ‘dependent’, about the enrollment form itself, proving or disproving other coverage, the list goes on; we will, as the answers become available, post the information HERE. Please visit often.
