The 10 essential benefits provision of the Affordable Care Act requires that all employee benefit plans – as well as those that are purchased independently – have specific benchmarks, such as ensuring dental coverage, emergency services, maternity and newborn care. Those that don't satisfy these prerequisites either have to be canceled or changed.
However, new reports indicate that this may be the latest mandate that's postponed.
Dan Mendelson, CEO of advisory services firm Avalere Health, noted that insurance policies which aren't compliant with the essential health benefits provision may be given a reprieve, enabling people who currently have a plan to keep it, even though it may not be sufficient, according to The Associated Press.
"The administration is entertaining a range of options to ensure that this individual market has stability to it," said Mendelson. "That would be one thing that they could do."
He added that while the consulting company had "informal discussions" with President Barack Obama and his administration, Avalere Health is not actively involved in making or developing health care policies.
Should this delay go into effect, which is still up in the air, it would be the latest in a long line of postponements that have been instituted since the enrollment period began. Many canceled plans have been initiated and the employer mandate has been put off until 2015.
Joanne Peters, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated that the administration continues to look for ways in which to make the health care overhaul as seamless as possible for all Americans. She maintained, however, that no final decisions about this latest potential delay have been made.
Many business owners today say that use benefits as a recruitment tool. Nearly seven in 10 executives said that health coverage was a "very important" means of retaining or attracting workers, according to a recent poll done by the National Small Business Association.
