Legislation Seeks to Set $5 Million Floor on Lifetime Coverage Limits
The bill’s sponsor cites the cost of medical treatments that result from disabilities or chronic illness.
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July 29, 2008
Legislation Seeks to Set $5 Million Floor on Lifetime Coverage Limits
Proposed federal legislation could prohibit employers from imposing a
lifetime coverage limit of less than $5 million per employee.
Introduced July 17 by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-California, the proposed amendment
to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 would set the lifetime
coverage limit at a minimum of $5 million for employees, an amount that would
eventually go up to $10 million per employee.
The law would not apply to small employers with fewer than 20 employees.
Eshoo, who introduced the legislation with Reps. Jim Langevin, D-Rhode
Island, Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, and Jason Altmire, D-Pennsylvania, said in a
statement posted on her Web site: “As medical treatment costs continue to
increase, the issue of lifetime insurance maximums will become even more
important. My legislation will protect individuals who are struggling to pay for
the expensive medical treatments that are a result of a disability or chronic
illness.”
Health insurance lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans criticized
the proposed legislation for recognizing only that costs were increasing without
addressing ways to reduce health care costs.
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