Ways & Means Committee approves HSA HOPE Act of 2006

The House Ways and Means Committee approved this afternoon a bill to improve Health Savings Accounts. The action follows a hearing the committee had in late June (see ECFC Bulletin 2006-12). A summary of the measure, a substitute version of H.R. 6134, offered by committee chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) for the original bill sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) can be reviewed at http://gbac.com/Editor/assets/HSA

The committee approved the bill with all Republicans supporting it and all Democrats opposed.

The future of the measure in this Congress is up in the air. Congress is scheduled to recess at the end of this week. It will return for a short post-election session in November. In the Senate, the Senate Finance Health Subcommittee conducted a hearing yesterday on a similar bill, S. 3585, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R-UT). However, there are no current plans in the Senate for action on that measure. Nonetheless, it seems certain that today's approval of an HSA bill by the House Ways and Means Committee will spur further action on consumer-direction health issues in the next Congress, which convenes in January.

In-Network High Cost Radiology Services - Public Act 06-180 - Effective October 1, 2006

Public Act 06-180 Signed into law on June 7, 2006, Public Act 06-180 was signed into law, establishing copayment maximums and an annual maximum on in-network high cost radiology services. The mandate states that effective October 1, 2006:

• All health insurance policies will have a copayment of not greater than $75 per service for in-network magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed axial tomography (CAT), to a maximum of $375
• All health insurance policies will have a copayment of not greater than $100 per service for in-network positron emission tomography (PET), to a maximum of $400.

Effective October 1, we will implement this benefit as follows:

• All fully insured policies that have a copayment of greater than $75 will be moved to $75 with a $375 maximum on all high cost radiology services (MRI, MRA, CAT, CTA, PET and SPECT)
• Fully insured polices that have a copayment greater than $0 but less than $75 will remain the same, with an annual maximum of $375
• Fully insured polices that have a copayment of $0 will remain the same
  Self-insured polices will remain unchanged
• This applies to group and individual plans but does not apply to health savings account (HSA) plans, per the mandate
• This does not apply to Access 10 plans or coinsurance plans such as Comprehensive