[Vision2020] Governor Otter, the Idaho Health Freedom Act, and the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

[Tom Hansen]

FLIP!

 

"Congress and the White House are working out their scheme for pushing
through a healthcare 'reform' bill that has more pages than the U.S.
Constitution has words. I guarantee you that not a single member of the
House or Senate has a complete understanding of that legislation any more
than they understood all the implications of the USA PATRIOT Act back in
2001.  What the Idaho Health Freedom Act says is that the citizens of our
state won't be subject to another federal mandate or turn over another part
of their life to government control."

 

- Idaho Governor Otter upon signing the Idaho Health Freedom Act (March 17,
2010)

http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/press/pr2010/prmar10/pr_023.html

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

FLOP!

 

Courtesy of HealthCare.gov at:

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html

 

Early Retiree Reinsurance Program: Idaho

 

Rising health care costs have made it difficult for employers to provide
quality, affordable health insurance for workers and retirees while also
remaining competitive in the global marketplace. The percentage of large
firms providing workers with retiree health coverage has dropped from 66
percent in 1988 to 29 percent in 2009. Health insurance premiums for older
Americans are over four times more expensive than they are for young adults,
and the deductible these enrollees pay is, on average, almost four times
that for a typical employer-sponsored insurance plan.

The Affordable Care Act creates a new program called the Early Retiree 

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>
Reinsurance 

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>
Reinsurance
A reimbursement system that protects insurers from very high claims. It
usually involves a third party paying part of an insurance company's claims
once they pass a certain amount. Reinsurance is a way to stabilize an
insurance market and make coverage more available and affordable. 

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>  

 

Program to help address this challenge that employers and older employees
are facing.  The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program provides $5 billion in
financial assistance to employers and unions to help them maintain coverage
for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for 

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>
Medicare

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>
Medicare
A Federal health insurance program for people who are age 65 or older and
certain younger people with disabilities. It also covers people with
End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a
transplant, sometimes called ESRD). 

 <http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/retirement/states/id.html>  

 

Businesses, other employers, and unions that are accepted into the program
will receive reimbursement for medical claims for early retirees and their
spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents. Savings can be used to reduce
employer health care costs, provide premium relief to workers and families,
or both. Applicants who are approved into the program receive reinsurance
for the claims of high-cost retirees and their families (80 percent of the
costs from $15,000 to $90,000). The program ends on January 1, 2014 when
State health insurance Exchanges are up and running.

HHS has approved the following sponsors from Idaho. More applications are
being approved each day.

 

*	Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC 
*	Blue Cross of Idaho Health Service, Inc. 
*	Boise Cascade, L.L.C. 
*	Boise Paper Holdings, L.L.C. 
*	Bonneville Joint School District #93 
*	Caldwell School District #132 
*	Cascade School District 422 
*	City of Pocatello 
*	County of Bear Lake School District #33 
*	County of Camas School Dist 121 
*	Idaho Association of School Administrators 
*	Idaho Fall School District 91 
*	Idaho Plumbers and Pipefitters Health and Welfare Agreement and
Declaration of Trust 
*	Idaho Power Company 
*	Independent School District of Boise City No. 1 
*	Joint Hagerman School District No. 233 
*	Middleton School District #134 
*	Payette School District #371 
*	State of Idaho 
*	Twin Falls School District #411

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Seeya round town, Moscow.

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

 

"Corporations are an oppressed minority forced to move headquarters from
state to state in search of friendlier tax codes--sometimes being forced to
live just off our shores in tiny mailboxes." 

 

- John Oliver, The Daily Show

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20100901/9de82721/attachment-0001.html