Still plenty of work to do on healthcare reform: Even with preservation of the employer-based healthcare system, there remains a big challenge to influence the new reality of healthcare to accommodate self-insurance. SIIA government relations specialists will interpret the new law to members in special one-day seminars (May 18 in Atlanta, June 15 in Phoenix and June 30 in Chicago; details on www.siia.org). But now that Congress has delivered the new law, it’s the job of federal agencies to put it to work, and that provides opportunities to make the law work as well as possible for self-insurance. SIIA lobbyists have a long list of targeted policies to work on with the agencies.

Working the appointment books at DOL and HHS: SIIA lobbyists are setting meetings with the two primary agencies involved in administering the new healthcare law to help them in the processes of rulemaking and guidance for health benefit plans. The body of regulation that is created by the Department of Labor (DOL) and Health and Human Services (HHS) in coming months could have a great effect on how SIIA members are able to manage benefit plans.

Gaining a level playing field in self-insurance studies: During the initial phase of implementing the new healthcare law, two studies will provide important leverage. One is a new look by the IRS at information resulting from Form 5500. The other is more ambitious: the DOL will analyze the large group health benefits market for both fully-insured and self-insured plans with the objective to learn which approach offers the greatest efficiencies and cost benefits. As with any study, the key is how objectives and questions are framed. SIIA lobbyists are working hard to make sure that self-insurance gets fair treatment in this study.

Credible support for RRG protections sought via GAO: House sponsors of the Risk Retention Modernization Act bill are requesting a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that would support the need to protect risk retention groups (RRG) against unlawful regulation or harassment by nondomiciliary states. House staff members believe the GAO could turn around a preliminary report this summer that would provide credible, unbiased support for important elements of the bill to reinforce the federal preemption of risk retention groups.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Health Care Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.