Health insurance companies that meet or exceed the medical-loss-ratio standard established in the healthcare reform law must notify policyholders on or after July 1, according to a new rule from the CMS (PDF).
The MLR standard is a consumer protection in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires individual and small-group plans to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on medical care. Insurance companies that do not meet the standard for coverage provided in 2011 are obligated to send rebates to employers and individuals by no later than this year.