My Healthcare Research Product, Part II

My reasons for this project: here.

Now start my preliminary notes:

Nancy Pelosi famously said, "...we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it..."

Now that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been passed, signed into law, had its constitutionality confirmed, and has been posted at healthcare.gov

The first thing to know about it is: that it is big.   The PDF is 2.6 MB big.  So big that it is recommended not to download more than 1/10 at a time.  So big that I knew from the start that I would not ever read the whole thing (has anyone?). 

Even if it wasn't so big here is a sample, from the department of labor which attempts to describe the law simply:

Q2: After the interim final regulations on grandfathered health plans were issued, some issuers commented that they do not always have the information needed to know whether (or when) an employer plan sponsor changes its rate of contribution towards the cost of group health plan coverage. (Generally, the interim final regulations provide that a group health plan or health insurance coverage will cease to be a grandfathered health plan if the employer decreases its contribution rate based on cost of coverage towards the cost of coverage by more than 5 percentage points below the contribution rate on March 23, 2010.)

For purposes of determining whether an insured group health plan is a grandfathered health plan, what steps should issuers and employer plan sponsors take to communicate regarding changes to the plan sponsor's contribution rate?

The Departments have determined that, until the issuance of final regulations, they will not treat an insured group health plan that is a grandfathered plan as having ceased to be a grandfathered health plan immediately based on a change in the employer contribution rate if the employer plan sponsor and issuer take the following steps:

• Upon renewal, an issuer requires a plan sponsor to make a representation regarding its contribution rate for the plan year covered by the renewal, as well as its contribution rate on March 23, 2010 (if the issuer does not already have it); and
• The issuer's policies, certificates, or contracts of insurance disclose in a prominent and effective manner that plan sponsors are required to notify the issuer if the contribution rate changes at any point during the plan year.

For policies renewed prior to January 1, 2011, issuers should take these steps no later than January 1, 2011. If these steps are taken, an insured group health plan that is a grandfathered health plan will continue to be considered a grandfathered health plan.

The relief in this Q&A2 will no longer apply as of the earlier of the first date on which the issuer knows that there has been at least a 5-percentage-point reduction or the first date on which the plan no longer qualifies for grandfathered status without regard to the 5-percentage-point reduction.

Moreover, nothing in the Affordable Care Act or the interim final regulations prevents a policy, certificate, or contract of insurance from requiring a plan sponsor to notify an issuer in advance (e.g., 30 or 60 days in advance) of a change in the contribution rate.

ObamaCare Facts is a website that argues in favor of the law and I will be using its point in order to find the facts of the issue.