HHS Approves 500 More ObamaCare Waivers
Waivers from ObamaCare's minimum annual limit provision now cover over 2 million individuals.
The U.S. Department of Healthcare and Human Services has approved over 500 additional waivers in the latest round of waivers from ObamaCare’s minimum annual limit requirement for health plans. As Business Insurance explains:
The waivers are needed because most, if not all, mini-med plans run afoul of federal rules in the reform law that set a minimum annual dollar coverage limit on essential benefits that health care plans must provide in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The minimum limit is $750,000 in 2011, $1.25 million in 2012 and $2 million in 2013.
Starting in 2014, the law bars annual limits for essential benefits.
The minimum spending, though, is more than the maximum benefits provided by mini-med plans, which typically are offered to low-wage, part-time or seasonal employees.
This recent addition brings the number of “mini-med” waivers to a total of 729, covering 2.1 million individuals. Of those 2.1 million individuals, about 40 percent are union workers. A full list of the groups receiving waivers is available at the HHS website.