Some of you may have a received a letter in your email today from the Department of Health & Human Services. The letter is probably specific to the state you live in. I live in Pennsylvania, so my letter has statistics for Pennsylvania.
Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that 576,000 Pennsylvania residents will benefit from $51.6 million in rebates from insurance companies this summer, because of the Affordable Care Act’s 80/20 rule. These rebates will average $165 for the 312,000 Pennsylvania families covered by a policy.
The health care law generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of consumers’ premium dollars on medical care and quality improvement. Insurers can spend the remaining 20 percent on administrative costs, such as salaries, sales and advertising. Beginning this year, insurers must notify customers how much of their premiums have been spent on medical care and quality improvement.
Insurance companies that do not meet the 80/20 standard are required to provide their customers a rebate for the difference no later than August 1, 2012. The 80/20 rule is also known as the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) standard.
“The 80/20 rule helps ensure consumers get fair value for their health care dollar,” Secretary Sebelius said.
The letter goes on to detail several different ways that families might receive this money, but the main point is that a lot of people will be getting checks or direct deposits or lower future premiums by August 1st.
Unless, of course, the five radicals on the Supreme Court decide to strike down the entire law. Are the conservative Justices really so petty that they’d screw over a half a million Pennsylvanians and countless other families across the country just to deny the president a deserved bump in popularity?
I guess we will find out soon. Probably on Monday.
