Say it ain't so. Does this scam have no bottom? The fee will make sure premiums don't skyrocket. And if believe that...
Employers are bracing for a little-noticed fee in the federal health-care law that will charge them $63 for each person they insure next year, one of the clearest cost increases companies face when the law takes full effect.
Companies and other plan providers will together pay $25 billion over three years to create a fund for insurance companies to offset the cost of covering people with high medical bills.
The fees will hit most large U.S. employers, and several have been lobbying to change the program, contending the levy is unfair because it subsidizes individually purchased plans that won't cover their workers. Boeing Co. and a union health plan covering retirees of General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, among other groups, have asked federal regulators to exclude or shield their insurance recipients from the fee.
Insurance companies, which helped put the fee in the law, say the fee is essential to prevent rates from skyrocketing when insurers get an influx of unhealthy customers next year. The fee is part of a new insurance landscape created by the health law that will forbid insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
The $63 fee will apply to plans covering millions of Americans in 2014. It applies to employers that assume the risk for workers' medical bills, and many private plans sold by insurers. The fee will be smaller for 2015 and 2016, though regulators haven't set those amounts.
Few noticed the fee when the 2010 Affordable Care Act passed. Employers have spent recent months trying to peel it back, but final regulations published Monday in the Federal Register left it largely intact.
Hey, I thought the insurance companies were evil. How did Team Obama ever let this get into the bill? Lefties, you got chumped again.
Employers are bracing for a little-noticed fee in the federal health-care law that will charge them $63 for each person they insure next year, one of the clearest cost increases companies face when the law takes full effect.
Companies and other plan providers will together pay $25 billion over three years to create a fund for insurance companies to offset the cost of covering people with high medical bills.
The fees will hit most large U.S. employers, and several have been lobbying to change the program, contending the levy is unfair because it subsidizes individually purchased plans that won't cover their workers. Boeing Co. and a union health plan covering retirees of General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, among other groups, have asked federal regulators to exclude or shield their insurance recipients from the fee.
Insurance companies, which helped put the fee in the law, say the fee is essential to prevent rates from skyrocketing when insurers get an influx of unhealthy customers next year. The fee is part of a new insurance landscape created by the health law that will forbid insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
The $63 fee will apply to plans covering millions of Americans in 2014. It applies to employers that assume the risk for workers' medical bills, and many private plans sold by insurers. The fee will be smaller for 2015 and 2016, though regulators haven't set those amounts.
Few noticed the fee when the 2010 Affordable Care Act passed. Employers have spent recent months trying to peel it back, but final regulations published Monday in the Federal Register left it largely intact.
Hey, I thought the insurance companies were evil. How did Team Obama ever let this get into the bill? Lefties, you got chumped again.
