Office of the Secretary

HHS releases white paper on EHB

Posted on February 14, 2012

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) identified ten categories of services and items to be included in essential health benefits (EHBs), and specified that the scope of EHBs must be equal to the scope of benefits provided under a typical employer plan. The ten categories include: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

A white paper issued in December by the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) found…

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Sebelius announces additional time for religious employers to comply with contraception coverage requirement

Posted on January 20, 2012

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that religious non-profit employers who do not currently offer contraceptive coverage to their employees will have an additional year to comply with the preventive services requirement set forth in an earlier Interim Final Rule (IFR). The earlier rule requires, that as of August 1, 2012, all employers except for churches must include contraception among the free preventive services covered in the insurance plans they offer to employees. The new announcement allows those employers who have religious objections an additional year to comply with the requirement.

For more information on preventive services, click here.

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HHS releases bulletin on essential benefits, allows for state flexibility

Posted on December 16, 2011

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a pre-rule informational Bulletin which lays out its proposed approach for determining the Essential Benefits package required of all qualified health plans (QHPs) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). HHS deferred to States’ judgment by allowing a State to create a benchmark essential benefits package from a currently-available plan within the State, as long as the package includes benefits from the ten benefit categories laid out in the ACA. HHS proposes that States choose the benchmark plan from a list of plan types:

• One of the three largest small group plans in the State by enrollment
• One of the three largest State employee health plans by enrollment
• One of the three largest federal employee health plan options by enrollment
• The largest HMO plan offered in the State’s commercial market by enrollment

If a State does not select a benchmark plan, HHS intends to propose that the default benchmark be the benefits package from the largest small group plan within the State.

For more information on Essential Benefits, click here.

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HHS Secretary Sebelius announces drop of CLASS Act

Posted on October 14, 2011

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote a letter to Congress earlier today announcing that the Obama administration has given up on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program. The goal of the CLASS initiative was to improve long-term care insurance options for Americans. The CLASS Act was championed by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Republicans have opposed the initiative since its introduction as part of last year’s health care law.

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Government tool promotes transparency regarding insurance rate increases

Posted on October 7, 2011

Since September 1, 2011, health insurance companies have been required to inform the public whenever they want to increase health insurance rates for individual or small group policies by an average of 10% or more. Insurance experts in state or federal government will then review these rate increase requests in a process known as “rate review.” On Friday, the Obama administration released a Web-based tool that will allow consumers to track when health plans are considering steep premium hikes. The new tool enables insurance customers to search for potential hikes by state.

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Sebelius announces awards for future health centers

Posted on September 15, 2011

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the awarding of $10 million to 129 entities around the country that intend on becoming community health centers. The money was made available by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and will be used to develop new health centers, which provide access to care for many medically under-served Americans.

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HHS announces millions in grants for nursing workforce

Posted on August 1, 2011

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced more than $70 million in new grants to help support nursing workforce development. The money will be used to support additional nursing education and training, nursing school loan programs, and promoting diversity in the field.

For more information about nursing workforce issues, click here.

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HHS releases plan for retrospective rule review

Posted on May 26, 2011

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a new plan aimed at improving the agency’s rulemaking and regulatory process. Pursuant to President Obama’s Executive Order 13563 of January 18, 2011, and its intent to make the nation’s overall regulatory process more transparent and less cumbersome, the HHS plan sets forth the agency’s priorities for reviewing, streamlining, and if necessary, removing existing rules and regulations.

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Waivers for State Innovation

Posted on March 21, 2011

During the congressional debate over passage of the ACA, Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle expressed interest in allowing states to innovate through waivers of ACA requirements in order to avoid what some lawmakers and policy experts have perceived as a “one size fits all” approach to coverage and health care reform. ACA section 1332 establishes a new waiver program that allows the Secretaries of HHS and Treasury to waive certain provisions of the ACA in order to support state demonstrations. Section 1332 waivers — referred to in the law as “Waivers for State Innovation” — are available for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017.

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HHS issues final rule on provider conscience protections

Posted on February 21, 2011

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued Final Rule on the enforcement of Federal Health Care Provider Concience Protection Laws.

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