The hotel industry has some unique work-force characteristics that make the health-care reform law of particular interest, said Ron Kramer, partner with Seyfarth Shaw.
The abundance of part-time workers, seasonal workers and independent contractors, to name a few, will have a dramatic impact on how the hotel owners and managers accommodate the act’s many provisions, he said.
- “There’s a provision that requires automatic enrollment for employers with 200 or more employees,†Kraft said. “That means they would have to automatically enroll employees.â€
- The waiting period for enrollment is being set at 90 days, which means many employers will have to shorten their current policies.
- The act puts a prohibition on rescissions (cancellation of contracts) by insurance companies, except in cases of fraud. In the past, some insurance companies have been accused of scouring through a participant’s medical files upon huge claims to try to find some reason to rescind coverage.
- By 2014, there will be no pre-existing conditions exclusions for any covered individuals.
- While group health plans are not required to provide coverage for dependents under the act, they must extend that coverage to dependent children up to age 26 if such coverage already exists. Grandfathered plans must only extend that coverage if the dependent does not have any other employment-based coverage. By 2014, all plans will be required to provide coverage for dependent children.
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