OMB Reviewing Rules on Essential Benefits, Health Insurance Exchanges
On Nov. 8, HHS submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review proposed final rules on essential health benefits for plans that will be offered through state insurance exchanges, as well as proposed final rules on standards for such plans, Modern Healthcare reports (Daly, Modern Healthcare, 11/9).
HHS officials described the regulations as "implementation focused" on aspects such as essential health benefits and oversight of the exchanges, according to CQ HealthBeat (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 11/9).
The rules focus on approval or changes to states' minimum coverage proposals and minimum coverage requirements for plans in federal exchanges (Modern Healthcare, 11/9).
Meanwhile, although HHS has not indicated what the rules governing the state-based exchanges entail, the agency still has to provide regulations for:
- Annual limits;
- Community ratings; and
- Exclusions for pre-existing conditions (CQ HealthBeat, 11/9).
Heather Howard of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs said that although reviews can take months, she expects the rules to be released quickly because "there have been a lot of preliminary conversations" on the topics (Modern Healthcare, 11/9).
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