Today the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released regulations on the new early retiree reinsurance program for employers. Expected to be included in the federal register within the next few days, the regulations provide greater clarification regarding how employers will be reimbursed for early retiree claims costs between $15,000 and $90,000. Of special note is that the program will go into effect June 1, 2010 in advance of the June 23, 2010 mandated effective date. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has allocated $5 billion dollars for this program that expires in 2014 when state-based health insurance exchanges are established. Both self-insured and fully-insured employers are eligible to apply to participate in this program. In the regulations, HHS states that they predict that many of the program participants will be those that receive the retiree drug subsidy (RDS) because of the similarities between the two programs.
The HHS press release can be accessed by clicking here. A recently revised White House fact sheet on this program can be found by clicking here.
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