Anthem continues to look for ways to ease the financial burden COVID-19 is creating for many of their employers and members. In the 9th year of MLR rebates, the rebate checks in 2020 are larger than they’ve ever been, driven mostly by the individual insurance market. On June 12th, 2020 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a bulletin[i] announcing a “Temporary Period of Relaxed Enforcement for Submitting the 2019 MLR Annual Reporting Form and Issuing MLR Rebates in Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency.” Learn more about the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rebate you received and how it may affect your tax filing. Update September 30, 2020 Optima Health recently issued rebate checks to eligible Individual & Family plan policyholders who paid premium in 2019. Any year a health plan exceeds its MLR requirements, the health insurance carrier has until the end of September of the following year to distribute MLR rebate funds. Ever since 2012, millions of Americans have received rebates from their health insurers each fall, refunding portions of prior-year premiums that were essentially too high. Employers that receive MLR rebates must handle the funds in accordance with applicable plan terms and federal guidance. The average rebate in 2019 was $208, although that figure varied widely from state to state. The minimum federal MLR standards are 80% for small group policies or 85% in the large group market. The rebates are based on a three-year average, such that 2020 rebates are calculated based on the insurers’ 2017, 2018, and 2019 financial data. Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) is the percent of premiums an insurance company spends on claims and expenses that improve health care quality. As he notes in the email, last year he actually ended up profiting slightly--his 2018 MLR rebate was slightly more than his net 2019 premiums. Plans that exceeded MLR requirements in 2019 are required to distribute MLR reimbursement checks by 9/30/2020. CMS has received ... responsibilities regarding use of the Medical Loss Ratio rebates. Insurers, including HMOs, must rebate (refund) any excess premiums to the policyholder by September 30 of the following year. In addition, CMS will not take enforcement action against an insurer that prepays part or all of its estimated 2019 MLR rebate before filing its 2019 MLR annual reporting form, either as a premium credit before September 30, 2020, or as a lump-sum check or reimbursement. In Kansas, for instance, each eligible person got an average of … On September 30, 2020, CMS published a draft of this guidance and invited public comments. 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