Resources from the Federal Government

Amid state budget concerns, on January 7, 2011, thirty-three governors across the country asked the Obama administration and Congress to lift the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

In a letter to Maine’s Superintendent of Insurance, Mila Kofman, HHS outlined the terms of the MLR waiver and HHS’s reasons for approving the state’s request.

The ACA requires that carriers covering large employers spend at least 85 percent of premiums paid on claims or quality improvements, and carriers covering small group and individual insurers spend 80 percent, or refund the difference to policyholders, beginning in 2012.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it made new resources available to states, members of the media, consumer groups, providers, and others to increase awareness of the pre-existing condition insurance plans (PCIPs), the temporary high-risk pools implemented to provide comprehensive health coverage to people who have been unable to obtain coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

In response to states’ pervasive budget deficits and the related challenges of managing costly Medicaid programs, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to governors outlining areas where states have flexibility to address rising costs.

This report examines the past, present, and future regarding the likely effects of the health care law on premiums –along with what might happen without it.

According to a new analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services, 50 to 129 million (19 to 50 percent of) non-elderly Americans have some type of pre-existing health condition.