Small employers in 18 states will offer only one health plan to workers when the Affordable Care Act's small-business exchanges open this fall, federal officials said Tuesday.
The 2010 law called for new online insurance marketplaces, which were supposed to open last year, for small businesses to pick group plans to cover workers. But those exchanges were delayed a year, and federal officials say they will lack some functions when they open in November.
The federal health law also called for employees at small businesses to be able to choose from a range of plans on the exchanges. Federal regulators said they were allowing states to restrict employees to the plan designated by their employer to avoid the risk of premium increases.
Some state insurance commissioners had worried that letting employees choose from a range of plans could lead to some products ending up with a small number of workers who then incur big medical bills. Commissioners feared insurers would raise prices to guard against that prospect.
Regulators said Tuesday they approved 18 states' requests to limit the choice to one employer-designated plan. The regulators said state insurance commissioners had shown that allowing employees to choose from a range of plans could cause health insurers to charge more. That was based largely on the assumption that a small number of unhealthier employees might be drawn to particular plans.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is implementing the health law, said it was allowing states to limit workers' choices for one year as a transition.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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