Will Mini Meds Survive PPACA?

[Yagents]

Will they survive in some form? Or, will they be eliminated. This is the first article I've seen on the subject in a while.

Mini-Med Plans Near Their End, but Some Say

There is no doubt that limited medical coverage plans, known as mini-med policies, are going away at the end of 2013 since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not permit the type of coverage caps these inexpensive, low-coverage products offer. But at least one health insurance industry representative sees the possibility for a type of mini-med plan to survive the reform law.
“While mini-meds will cease to exist, something very similar to them may be around. The [Obama] administration is thinking through this issue, to how this might be done so that employers can offer a secondary plan, a skinnier version of a full coverage plan,” John Greene, vice president, congressional affairs for the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), tells HPW.

 

[AllenChicago]

November 4, 2014

Today (election spin day), the Obama Administration announced that in 2015, it will no longer allow employers to offer plans without Hospitalization coverage to employees.

Excerpt:
"The administration had signaled last month it would move to disallow plans without hospital benefits from passing the minimum-value test. Large employers that fail to offer minimum-value coverage next year could be fined up to $3,120 per worker. The penalties become effective when workers buy plans in the online exchanges and qualify for subsidies based on their income."

Full Story: Obama Administration Closing Health Law Loophole For Plans Without Hospitalization | Kaiser Health News

Are the above referenced plans what are commonly referred to as "Mini-Meds"?
ac

 

[Ann H]

All of us hate those mini-meds, so getting rid of these "tin foil" plans is a good thing. However, large groups that are labor-intensive (think hotels, landscapers, restaurants, staffing agencies), can't always pay the premium for true group medical insurance nor pay the penalty, and these mini-meds were a way to comply with the law without going bankrupt. It's really a bad law at fault if anything.

 

[AllenChicago]

All of us hate those mini-meds, so getting rid of these "tin foil" plans is a good thing. However, large groups that are labor-intensive (think hotels, landscapers, restaurants, staffing agencies), can't always pay the premium for true group medical insurance nor pay the penalty, and these mini-meds were a way to comply with the law without going bankrupt. It's really a bad law at fault if anything.

Will those companies opt for the more expensive/comprehensive coverage, or will they opt to pay the fine for each employee that purchases a subsidized plan on the Marketplace? I guess it will boil down to the least costly of the two options.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

but what about the ind market?

 

[houcoogster]

Will those companies opt for the more expensive/comprehensive coverage, or will they opt to pay the fine for each employee that purchases a subsidized plan on the Marketplace? I guess it will boil down to the least costly of the two options.

I'm going with option C.

Employer mandate delayed indef.....

 

[Ann H]

but what about the ind market?

This should be good for the IFP market. I would recommend marketing to labor intensive large-sized (51+ employees) groups like hotels, restaurants, fast food chains, landscapers, day cares, temporary or staffing agencies, Skilled Nursing Facilities, etc. In those cases, the employer can't afford either the insurance or the penalty, so they defaulted to this scheme. Now, the employee can get a subsidy even if they enrolled in the mini-mv, and the employer won't get a fine. Of course that depends on whether or not the employer also installed another plan, which is both 60% AV and "affordable". Some employers would have done that, and others (like those with the thinnest profit margin) wouldn't.

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Houcoogster, the employer mandate was delayed this year for groups between 50 and 100 lives if they met certain rules. Most of the groups that do this mini-mv type stuff probably have 200+ employees, lowly paid.

 

[AllenChicago]

I'm going with option C.

Employer mandate delayed indef.....

Something happened in the past 2 hours to make me agree with you 100% completely absolutely HouCoogster.

 

[Ann H]

Something happened in the past 2 hours to make me agree with you 100% completely absolutely HouCoogster.

You may be right!!
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