On the recordMay 26, 2011
today I am introducing the Retiree Health Coverage Protection Act to provide an additional $5 billion for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, EERP, to allow more employers to participate in the program. It will also further reduce the cost of retiree coverage. I worked with Sen. Stabenow to include the EERP program in the Affordable Care Act due to the erosion of employer-sponsored retiree coverage across the country. The percentage of large firms providing workers with retiree health coverage dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 29 percent in 2009. The ERRP helps to control health care costs and preserve coverage for early retirees and their families and has been remarkably successful in making retiree health insurance coverage more stable and affordable. Employers who participate in the program can receive a reinsurance reimbursement of up to 80 percent of catastrophic medical claims between $15,000 and $90,000 for their early retiree enrollees. The reimbursement is used to reduce the employer's health care costs and to lower premiums to retirees and their families. A study from Hewitt Associates estimates that the program will reduce the cost of retiree coverage from 25 to 35 percent, anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 per retiree, per year. The program has garnered robust participation among a wide range of retiree health plan sponsors from all major sectors of our economy.…
