Whether you are for or against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), it is changing the landscape of health care insurance as we know it. The most recent sign of the changing times is an announcement that 2.5 million young adults have picked up insurance coverage over the past year. This is largely due to PPACA’s requirement that young adults can stay on their parents’ health insurance policy until the age of 26. BenefitMall has covered this requirement extensively in a number of blogs that are posted on www.healthcareexchange.com.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court denied a motion by Freedom Watch arguing that Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from hearing the upcoming challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The law, often referred to as the “Affordable Care Act,” will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year.
The implementation train for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) continues to pick- up speed with a number of important implementation dates in 2012.
Keeping up with the pace can be challenging. To assist, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers a website that helps track the major reform efforts, titled “What’s Changing and When.” Also useful is an online article posted by the White House that gives a year-by-year overview of the PPACA timeline.
Here’s a snapshot of some 2012 milestones:
Accountable Care Organizations
On January 6, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), one of the most talked about pieces of legislation passed in recent memory. In addition, over a half dozen amicus curiae briefs have been filed since then by interested parties wanting to weigh in on the case. Oral arguments on the merits of the new health care reform law are scheduled for late March.
Buried in the thousands of pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is Section 1181, which authorized the establishment of the Patient Center for Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an independent, non-profit organization charged with “evaluating and comparing health outcomes and the clinical effectiveness, risks, and benefits of medical treatments, services, procedures, drugs, and other strategies or items that treat, manage, diagnose, or prevent illness or injury.”
On December 19, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the federal agency has approved 32 organizations to become Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations.
Through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the federal government has promised to deliver improved health care while attempting to better control future costs.
The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) from March 26 through 28of 2012, according to the New York Times and several other media services. The amount of time set aside for the hearings, over three days, signals the gravity and importance of the issue, and is without precedent in modern times.
The U.S.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is not only forcing health insurers to undergo fundamental changes in the way they do business, but the law is requiring new infrastructure investment while also mandating Medical Loss Ratios (MLR) that limit the amount insurers can spend on administrative costs.
In an effort to provide consumers with competitive insurance options as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the federal government has awarded a $93.7 million, multi-year contract to CGI Federal, Inc. to establish a federal health insurance exchange. The Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has hired CGI Federal, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of CGI Group, Inc., to build the federally-sponsored health insurance marketplace that will “provide millions of Americans with ‘one-stop shopping’ for affordable coverage,” according to the CCIIO website. The CGI Group, Inc.
Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations held a hearing on the issue of the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) in Washington, D.C. Titled “New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just Eliminating Jobs?,” the hearing was a forum for views on how the MLRs mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) could impact the health care insurance industry. Most individuals testifying expressed concerns about how the MLR formula as currently structured could greatly hinder the ability of brokers and agents to support consumers and business owners when purchasing health insurance.