HR3590 Health Care Bill & Government Health Insurance

Those who are gainfully employed for most of their lives have very little to worry about when it comes to health care coverage. There are companies that recognize the importance of providing employees with the best health care coverage possible, and there are those who are lucky enough to be able to enjoy just that, and provide the same for their families. But what happens when one decides to retire early?

There is one thing that is a sad reality when it comes to health care. The older you are, the more expensive health care needs become, which means that private health insurance will cost more as well. And when one ceases to be employed, one is faced with the reality of having to individually secure health insurance.

In a post on HealthCare.gov, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius shared the importance of supporting businesses that provide health care coverage for employees who choose to retire before they become eligible for Medicare coverage. Secretary Sebelius shared further that this is exactly what The Affordable Care act is doing, through the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP).

ERRP is a key provision under The Affordable Care Act that provides employers and unions that provide health care coverage for early retirees with a reimbursement for some of their highest claims costs. This will hopefully encourage employers to continue to provide coverage for retirees and their families, as it reduces the burden of providing health care insurance.

Employers and unions that are interested in joining the program are encouraged to visit www.errp.gov, or to call 1-877-574-3777. Applications are still being accepted; thus far, according to Secretary Sebelius, almost 3,000 employers and unions have been accepted.

A post by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke on HealthCare.gov announces the acceptance of almost 2,000 employers and unions in to the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP).

The Program is a provision within the Affordable Care Act, which aims to assist employers with providing high-quality health benefits to employees who opt to retire early.

Early retirees are retired workers who are aged 55 or older; they are too young to qualify for Medicare, which means that they will need to independently purchase health care insurance until such time that they can get Medicare.

Without a patch to this coverage gap, some early retirees may “see their life savings disappear because of medical bills and exorbitant rates in the individual health insurance market,” Locke wrote. The program is open to the following: employers, including large and small businesses, State and local governments, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and labor unions.

The aim of the $5 billion program is to encourage employers to allow early retirees to maintain their – and their family’s – coverage, at least until the Health Insurance Exchanges are established by 2014.

The announcement regarding the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program was made a few months ago, and the administration has since received applications “from more than half of Fortune 500 companies, all major unions, and government entities in all 50 States and the District of Columbia.”

The Department of Health and Human Services also announced two new information tools that may be used by employers and unions that are interested about ERRP: the website www.ERRP.gov, and the hotline 877-574-ERRP.