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click here for a summary of HR 3590 from the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU)
On Sunday evening March 21 the House passed health reform bill HR 3590 without amendments. This bill had previously been passed by the Senate last December. This action means that this bill does not need to be re-offered to the Senate and can go directly to the President for his signature. His signature is expected, and this bill will become law perhaps today.
Many in the House were not satisfied with HR 3590, and devised a strategy to change it by creating a sidecar bill (HR 4782) that was also passed Sunday night. This sidecar bill does have to go back to the Senate, and can be amended or voted down there. In it, many of the things the House found undesirable in HR 3590 are proposed to be changed.
In effect the House chose to pass HR3590 rather than amend it, and opted to take their chances with a separate bill to repair it to their liking. The fate, and final contents of this sidecar bill is very uncertain at this point, but if passed would change the HR 3590 law just passed.
Bottom line is that we now have a set of new laws that may have a dramatic effect on how health care is financed in America. However.... providing conclusive information at this point about how it will affect your business is very difficult.
Immediate changes effective 6 months following signature for 2010 are few. Examples include the elimination of pre-existing conditions limitations on children and allowing unmarried children to stay on a parents policy to age 26. There is also a tax credit for employers with less than 25 employees with an average pay less than $40,000. Year 2013 is when the bulk of the reforms begin to impact the market.
In the weeks to come we will be carefully evaluating this complicated and involved new law, and will be discussing its impact with Minnesota regulators. Rather than draw immediate conclusions we will take this time to gather information about what is coming our way and how to best prepare for the changes.
SevenHills is committed to providing you with useful information about how to best manage this important and volatile cost. Thank you for your patience as we sort through this new law.
Please feel free to call us with any questions or concerns you have. Thank you!
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