CMS Announces End of "Mini-Med" Insurance Waivers
On June 17, 2011, CMS announced its plans to phase out its waiver program for limited benefit health insurance plans, dubbed “mini-med” plans. By way of background, the ACA health insurance market reform provisions required, among other things, that insurance plans phase out their annual limits on insurance coverage beginning in September 2010. Most plans currently may not impose an annual limit that is lower than $750,000; that limit increases to $1.25 million in September 2011 and to $2 million for plan years beginning in September 2012. CMS has granted temporary waivers from the ACA’s minimum annual limits to certain health plans that demonstrate that compliance with the phase-out of limits would result in a significant decrease in access to benefits or a significant increase in premiums. CMS has announced that after September 22, 2011, it will no longer consider new waiver applications or requests for extensions of temporary waivers. In addition, any plans receiving such waivers will be required to alert consumers that the plan has restrictive coverage, including low annual limits that could result in high out-of-pocket spending. Beginning in 2014, when health insurance is scheduled to be offered through Health Insurance Exchanges, annual coverage limits for new health plans will be prohibited.
