The U.S. Department of Human and Human Services (HHS) has approved about 30 requests for minimum medical loss ratio waivers for limited-benefit health plans.
Issuers and users of limited-benefit plans, or "mini med plans," have been worrying for months that the Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), could wipe out low-cost plans with low annual maximum benefits before subsidized alternatives or other affordable alternatives are in place.
This week, publications such as the New York Times are reporting that HHS has approved at least 29 waivers, and that at least some waiver applications are being approved within just a few days.
HHS officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports or say if HHS is posting information about mini med plan application decisions on the Web. No statistics on the number of total waiver applications filed and processed were immediately available.