Regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the federal health care reform, Humana and UnitedHealth Group on June 11 announced that they would continue several of health reform’s insurance mandates.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether the “individual mandate” (for everyone to get health insurance or pay a penalty) is unconstitutional, but whether parts of the law are inextricable from individual mandate. Those parts include the law’s “insurance reforms,” and those could also be stricken in a Supreme Court ruling.
Starting 2010, plans and insurers have been implementing “insurance reforms,” such as keeping dependents on policies longer, universal issue of policies and phasing out benefit caps on essential benefits.
Insurers: We’ll Retain Reform-style Coverage
In similar June 11 releases to the public, UnitedHealth and Humana announced they will:
- cover preventive health services with no direct out-of-pocket costs;
- cover dependents until they turn age 26,
- eliminate lifetime policy limits and rescissions; and
- adhere to third-party appeals processes as mandated by health reform.
Plans Still May Drop Provisions
Self-insured health plans do not have to follow suit: They will be free to drop the insurance mandates if the Supreme Court strikes those elements. They might turn to offering more high-deductible plans, with accompanying health savings accounts HSAs, and contract with narrower more restrictive provider networks, reports say.
Of the mandates United and Humana promised to keep covering, employers will have the easiest time offering free preventive care and eliminating lifetime limits, because those are rather cheap. On the other hand, plans may see more pronounced savings by dropping coverage of dependents up to age 26, reports say.
Dependent Care Likely Target
Dependent care to age 26 took a hit in this report by Senate Republican staff, saying that the dependent-care mandate loads into employer plans more than 4 million young lives that could have gotten coverage somewhere else. It also reported that more twice as many young beneficiaries sought coverage than were expected, increasing employer health plan rolls by 6 million, instead of 3 million, youths.