On the recordSeptember 29, 2010
There is one where there is any change at all would disqualify a grandfather plan, and that is any increase in the percentage cost sharing. You can understand that. If you have a percentage cost sharing, let's say it is 20 percent, if the cost of the plan goes up, medical inflation goes up, then your total cost will go up because 20 percent of $100 is $20; 20 percent of $120 is $24. Your out-of-pocket will go up. The only thing that would deny a plan from being grandfathered is if they changed the percentage of your copay. But if they have a fixed amount of copay, say $20, they can go above that by the maximum percentage increase of inflation plus 15 points. I wanted to try to clear that up, that there is only one case in which any change at all denies grandfathering, and that is if, in fact, the plan changes your percentage of what you have to pay in.
