From SAMHSA's Weekly Financing News Pulse: National Edition - September 10, 2010: On September 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released guidance for health plans seeking waivers to exempt them from the national health care reform law’s restrictions on annual limits for essential health benefits. The law introduces temporary restrictions on benefits for plan years that begin September 23, and bans annual limits beginning January 1, 2014. Plan years that begin between September 23, 2010 and September 22, 2011 may not place annual limits on essential health benefits that are lower than $750,000. That threshold rises to $1.25 million on September 23, 2012 and then to $2 million in 2013. The guidance issued by HHS outlines the process through which a plan can be exempted under a clause in the national health care reform law that waives the requirements for plans if they can demonstrate that compliance would cause a significant decrease in access to coverage or increase in health premiums. The guidance applies to plan years that begin between September 23, 2010 and September 22, 2011, after which plans must re-apply for a waiver in accordance with future HHS guidance.

View the September 10 Financing News Pulse: National Edition here (PDF | 280.93 KB)