Communications

Brothers and Sisters,

 

All of you and everyone else working in the construction trades know all too well how difficult it is to work in the trades and try to have any resemblance of a normal family life. And that is in the good times! Although some of you were in better shape economically than others when this downturn started, these economic times were not something we could have really prepared for.

 

 Because of the long duration and severity of this restructuring of our world, we are seeing a big change in the way our members as well as our contractors view the future. There seems to be a lot of unknown in front of us and it almost always comes at a cost. One of the big changes that will definitely affect all of us is the Health Care Reform.

 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that was recently passed into law will have a significant impact on our Health & Security Plan going forward. The first provisions that will start taking effect on April 1, 2011 include:

 

Extending dependant coverage to age 26 for all children of eligible employees who are ineligible for other employer provided coverage. The current eligibility rules that require dependant children be unmarried, dependant on the employee for support and attending school full time will no longer apply.

 

The new mandated plan provides that a child can only be defined by relationship to the parent, without other requirements. The child can be married and there are no requirements of financial dependency, student status or living in the same household. This does not apply to the spouse or child of the child.

 

No pre-existing condition mandate applies the first plan year after September 23, 2010 and starts with a policy stating that an insurance company cannot deny application for coverage based on an individuals health, which effectively creates a guarantee issue rule for children under age 19. The age limit is removed with the 2014 plan year.

 

Eliminating the current one million dollar lifetime limit on essential health benefits. Annual dollar limits on essential health benefits will be phased out between 2011 and 2014. Commencing April 1, 2014, annual dollar limits on essential benefits are eliminated. There is still some need for clarification regarding “essential health benefits” but should include benefits such as emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs and laboratory services.

 

This is just a sneak preview of unknown consequences the Health Care Reform could trigger regarding benefits and associated costs we can expect in the future. There will no doubt be some further clarification and guidance before implementation of these new provisions. You will also be notified from our H&W Trust before the new provisions are implemented.

 

On a positive note, the work hours for 2010 have improved in comparison to last year for the same time period. Hopefully this trend will continue and we can finally start a recovery to this economic madness.

 

Be safe and stay strong,

 

Ernie Evans

Business Manager, IUOE Local 612