New Rule Could Help With Health Coverage ; Bush Implements Law From Clinton Years
Posted on: Monday, 3 January 2005, 18:00 CST
WASHINGTON - For U.S. workers who change or lose their jobs, a new rule issued by the Bush administration just before the end of 2004 could provide better access to group health plan coverage - in keeping with changes Congress agreed to eight years ago.
The new rule, which becomes effective for health care plans starting July 1, is meant to implement more of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act by making it easier to obtain group health coverage.
It limits when preexisting medical conditions can be excluded from coverage and requires group health plans and group health insurance issuers to offer "special enrollment" in certain cases.
The law, pushed through Congress by then-President Bill Clinton, was intended to guarantee access to health insurance for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, and to require that insurers renew coverage for a person or group regardless of the health status of any member of the group.
"In an era when American workers often change jobs, and even careers, several times in the course of their lives, it is important that they are able to respond to the modern workplace without having to fear for their health insurance," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said last week.
Three federal agencies jointly issued the new rule based on the 1996 law. Bush administration officials said their rule "does not significantly modify the framework" the Clinton administration issued in April 1997 for implementing this part of the law.
Yet it took another 7 1/2 years for the rule to be made final.
"We have listened to public comment and worked to craft a rule that will provide maximum protection for consumers, while minimizing the burden on health plans," said Medicare chief Mark McClellan.
When Clinton signed the law, his administration said it would affect about one in 10 U.S. workers - then an estimated 25 million Americans - and their families. Those were workers switching jobs, self-employed or with pre-existing medical conditions.
Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
Related Articles
- Chinese Drywall Litigation & Insurance Coverage Subject of Seminar & Webcast
- ET Solar Group Announces Worldwide Product Liability Insurance Coverage
- RPM Offers Preliminary Comment on Insurance Coverage Case Ruling
- Assurant Health Offers Individual Medical Insurance Coverage to Individuals With Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Census Bureau Releases Comprehensive Health Insurance Coverage Estimates By County
- Kidney Care Community Applauds National Taxpayers Union's Endorsement of Medicare Reforms to Extend Patient Private Health Insurance Coverage
- Paving the Difficult Road to Universal Insurance Coverage: Spotlight on U.S. Innovators
- Lenovo Tablet PCs Help Lifetime Health Medical Group Provide Off-the-Charts Patient Care
- Health Sciences Group Plans to Expand Broadcast of Sequesterol(TM) Nutritional Supplement Infomercial
- Liberty Health Care Group Implements Business Continuance Plan with Brocade Storage Area Network
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds