Health Care Rebate Checks Are In The Mail

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Twenty health insurance companies are reimbursing Floridians more than $123 million because they didn’t spend enough money on actual medical care. These reimbursements are coming thanks to a rule in the Affordable Care Act that requires health insurers to spend at least 80 percent of consumers’ premiums on health services, with no more than 20 percent going toward administrative costs and advertising.

On Monday, July 30, at Broward Regional Health Planning Council, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) talked with several South Floridians about how they are already benefitting from the rebates.

Barbara Effman joined Rep. Wasserman Schultz on Monday. She has an individual policy with a company that spent only 64 percent of its premium dollars on health care, so she is getting a rebate check for the difference. Laura Goodhue is the executive director of Florida CHAIN, a statewide consumer health advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health of all Floridians, and she talked about what this rule means for her organization.

The amount of rebates and whether or not an individual will get one depends on how you get your coverage: whether you buy it on your own or for your family, get it through a small business (50 or fewer employees), or through a large employer with more than 50 employees.