Posted on 06/15/2010 9:29:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Obama administration had a message Monday for employers who want to keep federal bureaucrats from rewriting the rules for their company medical plans: Don't jack up costs for workers, and you won't have to worry about interference from the new health care law.
"What we don't want is a massive shift of costs to employees," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
She announced a new regulation that spells out how health plans that predate the health overhaul law can avoid its full impact. Meant to deliver on President Barack Obama's promise that people who like their current health coverage can keep it, the rule sets limits likely to become increasingly important as medical costs keep rising.
Plan changes that would cause a health plan to lose its "grandfathered" status and trigger new federal requirements include:
_ Dropping coverage for a particular health problem, for example, diabetes.
_ Increasing the proportion of insurance paid by workers, for example from 20 percent of the hospital bill to 25 percent.
_ Cutting back the share of premiums that the company pays by more than 5 percent.
_ Significantly increasing annual deductibles or co-payments paid by workers. For example, if an employer raises a $1,000 deductible by $500 over the next two years.
Workplace coverage is the mainstay of the nation's health insurance system, and will remain so under the new law. Consumer advocates said the regulation gives employers the flexibility to make needed changes, while protecting workers.
"If a plan changes in some significant way, or if it increases cost-sharing amounts, then that results in a very different plan — and it should not be grandfathered in," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group that supports the overhaul law.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Or what.
‘Cuz gues what, Einstein. It has already happened. My friends, family and I can testify.
Too late, the scumbags already did so.
If I said what I really think about Obama, not only would I get banned from FR, I would probably get arrested.
FUBO
All part of the plan.
This is not going to end well for all the hope and changers that voted for this fool. They will be the first casualties if not already. Deservedly so, I might add.
Liars.
What “employees”? We’ll all be “independent contractors”. Oh, and we’ll have to file quarterly. So they’ll need those additional IRS agents.
They can just drop the plans altogether and save money...
Yeah...we know costs are going up, so where does Zer0 think the money will come from?
If it doesn’t come form increased premiums, then it will come from increased prices on the products.
We are going to pay increased costs, period.
Stupid, ignorant, clueless, socialist moron: if the companies DON'T raise their employee's contributions to their health plans to pay for your socialist boondoggle, they will simply raise the price of the goods/services that the company produces, which will thereby "shift the costs" to the employees (to all who buy or consume anything, really) anyway.
The bottom line is that SOMEONE has to pay for the health care, and it isn't the government (which has only what money it confiscates from the people), and it isn't the companies - who must pass their costs on to consumers in the price of their product, so that they can be profitable (it's called capitalism), and give investors a reason to own the company's stock.
Too bad that with this new criminal health care enterprise, a lot fewer people will have any money to invest in stocks.
This administration is economically illiterate.
Dumb, what does he think happens when he lets all those 26 something’s rejoin these medical plans?
translation: don’t make any pesky rate announcements that will prove troublesome to Democrat election campaigns in November, or we’ll get you!
To libs out there that deny 0bama and 0bamacare is fascist.
Let’s say he/it isn’t fascist. How would the policy be different if he/it were?
Or more likely, in Hollywood, you have to toe the party line, if you want to work there.
Whoops wrong thread.
Good news for us employees. Stick it to those tax-payers...hey...wait a minute...I am one of those also...dang...
10% anyone?
10%+ un-employment..going once, going twice...
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