Tuesday, February 19, 2013

More Health-Law Changes Coming in 2013

The Wall Street Journal published an article titled: "More Health-Law Changes Coming in 2013". The article listed the following 5 changes that will come about in the year 2013. They are as follows:

  1. Higher Premiums
    • 13% of companies planning to raise their employees contributions by 5% or more.
    • Insurers give rebates to consumers if the insurers spend less that 80% of premiums on medical care.
    • In 2012, 13 million consumers got rebates worth $1.1 billion dollars
  2. Straightforward Summaries
    • Easy-to-read descriptions of how the plan works.
    • What it covers and doesn't cover - no fine print.
    • New glossary of insurance words that you may not understand
  3. FSA Limits
    • $2,500 is the maximum you can put in a flexible spending account.
    • FSA are tax free money that you can use to pay qualified out-of-pocket expenses for 
      • Examples: copayments for doctor visits or prescriptions
    • If you don't use the full amount that you put aside, you will lose that money.
  4. Dependent Coverage
    • Children up to age 26 can stay on their parents' policies
  5. Higher Spending Cap
    • This year (2013), the spending cap is $2 million
    • In 2012, the spending cap was $1.25
    • In 2014 the spending cap will go away entirely.

To view the full article, please click the following link: More Health-Law Changes Coming in 2013

For additional billing, coding, and reimbursement resources please click the following link: Medical Reimbursement Resources Page.