Health care reform enacted

Yesterday, Congress finished its work on healthcare reform by enacting a package of amendments to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under its reconciliation rules as reported in Business Insurance. Today, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management circulated the following message on health care reform:

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Public Law 111-148.  While some aspects of this law will not take effect until 2014, there are several major provisions that become effective before that time.  Among those is the coverage of a dependent until age 26. The effective date of this provision is the first day of the plan year that is six months following enactment of the law.  For the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, that means January 1, 2011.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will take the necessary actions to comply with the new law by this effective date.  We will provide additional information on our website in the near future about the changes to FEHB plans for the 2011 plan year occurring as a result of passage of the PPACA so that employees and retirees have the information in time for the Open Season, which begins in November.