HHS: 105 million people no longer face health insurance lifetime limits

Mar 7 2012

A Department of Health and Human Services report released Monday quantified the number of Americans with health insurance who no longer face these benefit limits.  

National Journal: HHS Says 105 Million No Longer Have Health Insurance Limits
The 2010 health reform law has eliminated lifetime limits on insurance coverage for more than 105 million Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a report released on Monday. HHS calculated how many Americans were enrolled in health insurance plans that imposed limits on how much they would pay out over a patient's lifetime. Such limits hit patients with costly diseases, such as cancer, especially hard (3/5).

CQ HealthBeat: HHS Says 105 Million Americans No Longer Face Lifetime Benefit Limit
Seventy million Americans in large-employer plans, 25 million in small-employer plans, and 10 million with policies purchased on the individual market no longer face restrictions on how much money their plans will pay out over the lifetime of the policy, according to an HHS report released Monday (3/5).

The Baltimore Sun: No More Lifetime Limits Under Health Care Reform
Nearly 2.3 million Marylanders with serious illnesses no longer have to worry about their insurance running out because of new provisions under health care reform. The Department of Health and Human Services said that because lifetime limits on insurance were eliminated under health care reform that 872,000 women and 585,000 children in Maryland are no longer losing coverage because they can't afford to pay (Walker, 3/5).

In other news related to the health law's implementation -

Politico Pro: PCORI Approves New Definition Of Research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, after more than a year of study, settled Monday on a definition of the research it will do, incorporating more than 500 public comments to tweak its previous draft description. PCORI's board of governors voted at a meeting in Baltimore to approve a definition that now explicitly includes palliative care in the list of care areas it is interested in, as well as an increased focus on improving "communication" of patients and caregivers (Norman, 3/5).