Just when most companies thought it was all but impossible to hang onto their grandfathered status, the White House came out with a surprising announcement.
Under the reform law, any company that changes health insurance carriers would lose its grandfathered status.
But the feds are now weighing a change to that provision of the law. And they’ve got good reason.
For one thing, the reform bill was supposed to allow a companies to keep their healthcare plans if they were happy with the coverage. But the very nature of the law and makes it all but impossible for firms to do so.
In addition, companies have said prohibiting them from switching to less costly plans would tie their hands and force them to cut costs using other means (i.e., layoffs, etc.).
So the feds are likely to allow companies to shop from cheaper plans — and even new providers — on one condition: The benefit levels of their health plans stay the same.
We’ll keep you posted on how this unfolds.