Have you heard from your employer or seen a Health Care REBATE?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Last edited Mon Oct 1, 2012, 07:35 AM - Edit history (2)

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/health-insurance-rebates-is-your-check-in-the-mail/
[FONT SIZE=4]HAVE YOU HEARD FROM YOUR EMPLOYER OR RECEIVED A REBATE CHECK?
[FONT SIZE=3.5]
Under the law, small-group and individual-plan insurance companies that annually spend less than 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care owe their customers a rebate. For insurers to large businesses, the percentage split is 85-15.

This is the first year the provision is in effect, and insurance companies that owe rebates must pay them by tomorrow, Aug. 1.
Here’s a look at the health care rebates, by the numbers:
- Health insurance companies have to pay out a total of $1.1 billion in rebates by tomorrow.
- About 12.8 million Americans will receive a rebate, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
- The average privately insured family will see a $151 rebate from this provision, but payouts will vary by state.
- About 31 percent of Americans who have individual insurance are eligible for a rebate. They’ll get their checks directly in the mail, averaging about $127, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

- For people who buy insurance through their employers, those rebates won’t come directly in the mail. They’ll first go to the employer, which decides how to distribute it. Employers who offer insurance can either send out individual checks to their employees, or put those rebates toward lowering future premium costs.

The employer could also use the rebates as a lump-sum reimbursement to the accounts that pay premiums, or spend it in other ways that “benefits its employees,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services. This can include lowering copays or adjusting cost-sharing to cut group insurance costs.

Employees should contact their employer for details about how their rebates will be distributed. Whether they owe a rebate or not, insurance companies in every state have to notify their customers by tomorrow if they’ve met or failed this part of the law.

5 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	NOT A WORD
	0 (0%)
	GOT A REBATE
	1 (20%)
	EMPLOYER INFORMED ME OF PREMIUM REDUCTION
	1 (20%)
	EMPLOYER INFORMED ME OF OTHER BENEFIT COMPENSATION
	0 (0%)
	EMPLOYER INFORMED ME THAT INSURANCE COMPANY MET PROPER RATIO GUIDELINE
	0 (0%)
	INSURANCE COMPANY INFORMED ME THAT THEY HAD MET RATIO GUIDELINE
	1 (20%)
	I HAVE NO INSURANCE
	2 (40%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Freddie]

1. If your employers plan is self-insured there is no rebate

as far as I know. Many people are not aware their plan is self-insured because it is usually administered by an insurance co.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. Other: Heard from insurance company that...

proper medical ratio guideline had been met.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. Do you have through your employer? or individually

[WorseBeforeBetter]

11. Employer. (n/t)

[Ms. Toad]

3. This probably doesn't impact most people who have insurance through work

Anytime I have had insurance through work, my fee has been a fixed fee per month. A rebate wouldn't impact that - it would just go to reduce whatever is leftover that the employer pays. They employer takes on the risk of any increase beyond what I pay, and would also be entitled to the benefit of any decrease/rebate.

If your fee is a percentage of the premium cost, then you should also get a rebate of that same percentage of the rebate given to the employer - but I think that arrangement is less typical.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. That's interesting. So, I assume that employers like the first you mention, have no obligation

to let their employees know what the outcome was? Say, they typically subsidize half the employees premium, and there was a rebate, the employer could just keep it and never tell the employee? (regardless of the fact you say this is fair)

[Ms. Toad]

7. I haven't read that portion of the law in detail -

but I don't think it addresses the relation between the employer and the employee - just the obligation the insurance company has to rebate the money. I don't have time to check now, but if I have a chance later I'll check.

The rest would seem to me to be a matter of contract between employer and employee (and even contracts which cover health insurance probably don't reach that level of detail, since it would be a small number of contracts that were negotiated after the law was implemented).

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Here's a map on the total rebates required for each state

http://yourhealthsecurity.org/health-insurance-refund-map

[Earth_First]

8. Other: I have ZERO health insurance; employer provided or otherwise... n/t

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. I am sorry for that. Although I fortunate enough to have it, it is getting

so that it has become such a rip off that it's easier not to use it many times.

My husband had a skin spot he wanted checked out and removed. With our insurance, he had to wait three months to see a PA and pay a large deductible. He called a dermatologist who takes no credit cards and no insurance. He was seen in two days, paid $120 in cash and all was taken care of.

Last summer, his face was cut in a bicycle accident. Insurance paid $1000 and he paid $1,600 out of pocket for ER and stitches.

Yet, we pay thousands a year for coverage.

Wish there were more affordable "catastrophic" plans, and take the insurance companies and profits out of the routine care. Last I looked, they were almost as high as full coverage.

Bring back "hospitalization" policies only !

[MrMickeysMom]

10. I must pay for my own plan...

... Forget any of this other stuff, as it's not an option, but my employer has PLENTY of options... the option to keep me in a capacity so that I'm never eligible FOR health or any other benefits.

This rebate, however, is seen with unionized employees in state and local govt. It's not a bad thing, it's a negotiated thing.

[SalviaBlue]

12. The company I manage received about $114 for 3 employees

And their families. Insured by Anthem/Blue Cross.

[rgbecker]

13. Went on Medicare....cancelled private insurance policy....got my money back.

Got old in August. From now on, government stands with me as I enter the healthcare market. Thank you America.