HHS guidance will ensure that companies adhere to federal law
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a guidance to health insurance companies that are in violation of one of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The provision in question involves insurers providing coverage for contraceptive care. The HHS seems to have made this move following a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which showed that many insurers are not offering coverage for contraceptives as required by federal law.
Some insurers are not offering coverage for contraceptives
The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to provide coverage for contraceptives, but some insurers are not complying with this part of the federal law. Some may have being doing this in order to save money, but others may have simply misunderstood the provision and its stipulations. The HHS will be guiding these companies into providing coverage for contraceptives for the next coverage year. These companies will have to introduce this coverage into all policies and will have 14 months to comply with the guidance or risk having action taken against them by the HHS.
Some businesses are seeking exemption from federal provisions
The Affordable Care Act does provide exemptions for the vast majority of businesses that do not want to provide coverage for contraceptives. These businesses are not forced to support such coverage, but they are required to offer their employees a range of health insurance policies in many cases. Large businesses are not also required to provide coverage for contraceptives, but only if they have grandfathered policies from before the Affordable Care Act took effect.
Modest health insurance disruption has been seen in the market
The federal government is making a greater effort to enforce new rules on health insurance companies. Doing so has been a difficult process, however, as businesses, both large and small, are making it more complicated for insurers to provide appropriate coverage. Some companies are claiming religious exemptions from the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This has caused only modest disruption in the health insurance market, however.
