Obama proposes ACA fix; exchange enrollment lags; and NBGH announces a new leader: 3 things you need to know this week in employee benefits

ACA do-over for cancelled plans: Benefit or boondoggle?

At a White House press conference last Thursday, President Obama announced a proposal that would allow individuals whose health insurance policies were cancelled under the Affordable Care Act to renew them through the end of 2014.

Although the policies were terminated because they fail to meet minimum essential benefits guidelines under ACA, the cancellations caused yet another public relations problem for the White House since it violated the president’s promise to Americans that “if you like your plan you can keep it.”

However, the decision to renew the cancelled policies lies with insurance companies and, as reporting from the Washington Post points out, insurers who offer renewals must notify members of the ACA-mandated benefits that they’re missing and that they can find plans that meet all ACA guidelines on their state exchange.

No easy feat, as insurance consultant Robert Laszewksi noted in a client message published by WaPo: “This means that the insurance companies have 32 days to reprogram their computer systems for policies, rates, and eligibility, send notices to the policyholders via U.S. Mail, send a very complex letter that describes just what the differences are between specific policies and Obamacare compliant plans, ask the consumer for their decision—and give them a reasonable time to make that decision—and then enter those decisions back into their systems without creating massive billing, claim payment, and provider eligibility list mistakes.”

All by January 1.

Exchange enrollment lags far behind Obama administration goals

Fewer than 100,000 Americans have enrolled in health care plans via state exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act, well below federal estimates, Bloomberg reports.

The Obama administration originally set a goal of 800,000 enrollees by Dec. 1; however, due to massive technical problems at healthcare.gov, enrollments have lagged at a rate of about a few dozen per state per day, according to several estimates.

The Congressional Budget Office projected 7 million people would enroll through 2014, according to Bloomberg. However, it seems nearly impossible to reach that number based on current enrollment.

This week’s hidden gem: Changing of the guard at NBGH

The National Business Group on Health announced this week that its President and CEO Helen Darling, who has served the organization since 2001, will be retiring at the end of next April. Her successor is Brian Marcotte, vice president of compensation and benefits at Honeywell, effective May 1, 2014.

“I have had the privilege of being in health care and health policy for more than 30 years and helped shape employers’ responses to their many challenges,” Darling said in a statement to accompany the announcement. “It has been a thrill to work with so many iconic, creative companies, including in the past three years, during which we have seen tectonic changes. I am very proud of the 377 members we serve and the great leadership team that we have assembled. I love this business, but I’m ready to retire from such an intense full-time job. I am especially happy that we were able to hire Brian, knowing that he will take the organization to the next level in a different world. He will be an outstanding leader for us.”

Pamela Kimmet, NBGH board chair calls Darling, “an outstanding leader” who has improved the organization with her “influential and innovative” leadership. On behalf of the board, Kimmet also thanked Darling for “her years of dedication to the organization and its members.”

On a personal note, we’d like to extend Darling our best wishes for the future and thank her for all she’s done on behalf of employers and employees nationwide to extend and improve health care benefits.