President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at improving price and quality transparency in health care. The order is intended to increase availability of health care price and quality information and protect patients from surprise medical bills. What’s in the Order? Specifically, the order is aimed at: Eliminating unnecessary barriers to price and quality transparency Increasing the availability of meaningful price and quality information for patients Enhancing patients' control over their own health care resources, including through tax-preferred medical accounts Protecting patients from surprise medical bills Employer Impact Within 120 days, the order directs the Treas
Health officials issued a final rule that expands the usability of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Effective in 2020, the final rule establishes two new types of HRAs: Individual Coverage HRA: Allows employers to offer an HRA to be used to reimburse the cost of individual market premiums on a tax-preferred basis, subject to certain conditions, as an alternative to traditional group health plan coverage. Excepted Benefits HRA: Allows employers that offer traditional group coverage to provide an HRA of up to $1,800 per year (as adjusted) to reimburse certain qualified medical expenses. Talk to us at RCB & Associates to learn more about the specifics of these new plan designs.
