{"id":13227,"date":"2012-11-27T05:30:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=13227"},"modified":"2012-11-27T05:30:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T10:30:18","slug":"more-obamacare-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"More Obamacare rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Now that Obamacare has passed the hurdles of the Supreme Court and Obama\u2019s re-election, there is a mad scramble to make the necessary preparations before the health care program goes into effect in 2014.\u00a0 The government is adding more requirements of what health insurance companies will have to cover while also allowing them to charge higher deductibles.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration proposed new rules Tuesday that would loosen some of the 2010 health-care law\u2019s mandates on insurers while tightening others.<\/p>\n

Certain health plans, for instance, would be able to charge customers higher deductibles than originally allowed under the legislation. But all plans would be required to cover a larger selection of drugs than under an earlier approach outlined by the administration.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the law permits insurers to set their premiums for tobacco users 1.5 times higher than those for non-smokers. But insurers wouldn\u2019t be allowed to impose the surcharge on smokers enrolled in smoking-cessation programs.<\/p>\n

\nThe changes were included in the fine print of three regulations the Department of Health and Human Services proposed to flesh out key parts of the statute. For the most part, the regulations \u2014 which will be open for comment until Dec. 26 \u2014 would simply codify mandates in the law or in earlier administration guidance.\n

Those policies include a prohibition on insurers denying coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions. They also limit how much plans can vary rates based on, for example, a person\u2019s age. Most provisions will take effect in 2014.<\/p>\n

But Tuesday\u2019s proposals also included a few significant tweaks.<\/p>\n

The suggestion to grant insurers greater flexibility in setting deductibles, for example, reflected concerns that health plans would have a hard time meeting the law\u2019s original requirements.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the legislation prohibits plans sold to small businesses from setting deductibles higher than $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families. But the law also limits how big a share of total health-care expenses must be paid out of pocket by individuals or families, including through co-pays and co-insurance.<\/p>\n

Insurers have complained that it could prove impossible to design a package of benefits that meets that requirements while keeping the deductible below $2,000.<\/p>\n

Administration officials agreed. So the proposed new rule would exempt insurers from the deductible limit if that\u2019s necessary to achieve the plan\u2019s overall cost-sharing target.<\/p>\n

Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive of America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, said in a statement Tuesday that the \u201cadditional flexibility\u201d is a \u201cpositive step.\u201d But she added that \u201cwe remain concerned that many families and small businesses will be required to purchase coverage that is more costly than they have today.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Obama officials tweak rules for health insurers \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You think?\u00a0 With all of these requirements, how could insurance NOT cost more?\u00a0 But if deductibles are going to have to go up considerably, won\u2019t that mean lots of families that won\u2019t be able to afford health-care after all?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that Obamacare has passed the hurdles of the Supreme Court and Obama\u2019s re-election, there is a mad scramble to make the necessary preparations before the health care program goes into effect in 2014.\u00a0 The government is adding more requirements of what health insurance companies will have to cover while also allowing them to charge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,30],"tags":[1614],"class_list":["post-13227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-government","category-medicine","tag-obamacare"],"yoast_head":"\nMore Obamacare rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now that Obamacare has passed the hurdles of the Supreme Court and Obama's re-election, there is a mad scramble to make the necessary preparations before\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More Obamacare rules\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now that Obamacare has passed the hurdles of the Supreme Court and Obama's re-election, there is a mad scramble to make the necessary preparations before\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-27T10:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/\",\"name\":\"More Obamacare rules\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-27T10:30:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-27T10:30:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Now that Obamacare has passed the hurdles of the Supreme Court and Obama's re-election, there is a mad scramble to make the necessary preparations before\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/11\/more-obamacare-rules\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"More Obamacare rules\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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