BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has received a waiver from certain provisions of the health care reform bill to maintain the state’s limited-benefit CoverTN plan for the next few years, state officials said.
The state requested the waiver in partnership with BlueCross, which administers the CoverTN plan for the state, said Joe Burchfield, Cover Tennessee spokesman. CoverTN is one component of the state-run health program Cover Tennessee.
Health reform requires health plans to phase out annual limits on benefit coverage, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has allowed temporary waivers from those rules for certain “mini-medical” plans that are “unfortunately the only option that some employers offer,” according to the HHS website.
The wavier will allow some limited plans to continue until state-run health insurance exchanges, described under health reform, are up and running in 2014. Those exchanges are envisioned as a marketplace where individuals and small groups can purchase affordable insurance with certain guaranteed essential benefits.
ON THE WEBA list of companies and plans receiving waivers from the annual limit requirements is available at:hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/approved_applications_for_waiver.htmlANNUAL LIMIT REGSFederal health reform allows group health plans and insurers to offer some level of annual limits on essential health benefits up until 2014. But the annual limits can’t be less than:* $750,000 for plans beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010, but before Sept. 23, 2011;* $1,250,000 for plans beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2011, but before Sept. 23, 2012;* $2,000,000 for plans beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2012, but before Jan. 1, 2014.For plans beginning in 2014, the insurer may not impose any annual limit.