Starting January 1, 2016, the Affordable Care Act amends the size of the small group health insurance market from 2-50 to 1-100. However, the Obama Administration has indicated that those fully insured groups that have 51-100 insureds may be allowed to keep their policies and remain in the large group market via a transitional policy akin to the transitional policies that were allowed in the small group market. The Department previously discussed the small group transitional policies in a notice, “Transitional Policies Revised,” issued April 30, 2014.
For groups sized 51-100, the Department will allow for policies issued to those groups to remain in place as transitional policies for as long as allowed by the federal government’s current transitional policy guidance.
Please note that the allowance for these transitional groups is at the option of the carrier. If the carrier does allow for the transitional policies, the carrier shall inform the Department as to the carrier’s decision and as to how many groups are affected.
As before, all other plans issued after January 1, 2014 must be ACA compliant. Questions concerning this notice may be directed to Martin Swanson, Administrator for Health Policy, at martin.swanson@nebraska.gov, or at (402) 471-2201.
