The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed 2017 health
plan out-of-pocket (OOP) maximums of $7,150 for self-only
coverage and $14,300 for family (other than self-only) coverage.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes annual OOP maximums on the amount that
an enrollee in a nongrandfathered health plan—including self-insured and
large-group health plans—must pay for covered essential health benefits through cost-sharing.
The OOP maximum includes the yearly deductible and any cost-sharing
obligations enrollees have after the deductible is met. It does not count
premiums, billing amounts for out-of-network cost-sharing or spending for
nonessential health benefits, and OOP maximums do not apply to grandfathered or
retiree-only plans.
On Dec. 2, 2015, HHS published in the Federal Register its proposed
Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2017, which includes OOP
maximum rates, and released a fact sheet that summarized the guidance. A final rule will
be forthcoming (the 2016 HHS final rule on benefit and payment parameters was
issued at the end of February 2015).
Increased Cost-Sharing
Out-of-pocket costs have risen sharply over the past decade, according to
findings released in November 2015 from the 2015
United Benefits Advisors (UBA) Health Plan Survey, although median plan
limits remain well below the HHS’s OOP caps. The UBA survey showed that both
self-only and family coverage had large increases in median in-network plan OOP
maximums in 2015:
•
For self-only coverage, in-network OOP maximums rose to $4,000 (up $500 from
2014).
•
For family coverage, in-network OOP maximums rose to $8,700 (up $700).
Families bore the brunt of the increase in median out-of-network,
out-of-pocket plan maximums, rising from $16,000 in 2014 to $18,000 in 2015,
while self-only out-of-network OOP limits increased from $8,000 to $9,000.
“If we only look at slices of the health insurance market [such as plan
premiums], it might appear that costs have remained relatively steady. A closer
look at how much of the cost has been shifted to employees, however, reveals a
much different story,” said Les McPhearson, CEO of UBA, in a statement.
“Out-of-network expenses are not subject to [ACA] limitations, which means
they’ll likely continue to increase significantly as employers continue to shift
a greater share of expenses to employees through out-of-pocket cost increases
and reductions in family benefits,” he predicted.
Embedded OOPs for 2016
Beginning in 2016, nongrandfathered health plans, whether self-funded or
fully insured, must apply an embedded OOP maximum to each individual enrolled in
family coverage if the plan’s family OOP maximum exceeds the ACA’s OOP limit for
self-only coverage ($6,850 for 2016).
This change, announced in guidance issued in May 2015 by the departments of Labor and
Treasury, along with HHS, affects the design of many employer-sponsored plans—in
particular, high-deductible health plans that had commonly imposed a single
overall family OOP limit on family coverage without an underlying self-only OOP
maximum for each covered family member.
For instance, if a plan has a OOP cap of $6,000 for individuals and $12,000
for families, an employee who is part of a family plan and incurs out-of-pocket
expenses for herself that amount to more than $6,000 during the year still won’t
pay more than $6,000 (assuming her health providers are in-network). But her
family members who each incur expenses of less than $6,000 per year would be
subject, when their expenses are combined, to the $12,000 family OOP limit.
“The new cost-sharing limit shifts medical costs to employers for individuals
who have not reached, and might never reach, the umbrella limit,” commented
Annette Guarisco Fildes president and CEO of the ERISA Industry Committee, which
advocates on behalf of large employers. “The departments’ new cost-sharing limit
will have significant and adverse effects on large group health plans,” she
warned.
“Even though the new regulation sounds friendly to families on its face, in
fact it makes already-expensive family coverage even less affordable, since
family premiums are likely to increase substantially with this new rule in
place,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, a Washington,
D.C.-based nonprofit that rates hospital quality and safety.
Stephen Miller, CEBS, is
an online editor/manager for SHRM. Follow me on Twitter.