Also in the new regulations, HHS officials say they want to:

Sweeten the PPACA risk corridors program — which is supposed to guarantee a minimum underwriting profit margin for exchange plan issuers — to offer a minimum profit margin of 5 percent, up from 3 percent, because of the uncertainty surrounding all of the changes HHS has made in exchange program rules.
Have the first revenue generated by a new PPACA reinsurance go to protecting insurers in the individual health insurance market, rather than to the Treasury. PPACA called for the program to raise a total of $12 billion in insurance company fees in 2015, with $2 billion going to the U.S. Treasury. In the past, HHS had suggested that the reinsurance program should send the first $2 billion in revenue to the Treasury, then use the rest of the money for reinsurance. HHS now says it wants to see if it has the legal authority to use the first $10 billion raised for reinsurance and send any cash left over to the Treasury.
Require that issuers of commercial exchange plans — "qualified health plans" — send standardized notices to enrollees when the plans are discontinued. An issuer could make changes to comply with state and federal regulations without sending a product withdrawal notice, and it also could make other changes with a cumulative rate impact of up to about 2 percent without sending a product withdrawal notice.
Schedule the next SHOP small-group exchange open enrollment period to start Nov. 15, 2015 — the same date as the individual QHP enrollment period. This year, an employer can sign up for SHOP coverage whenever it wants. HHS officials say they think that approach causes problems for exchanges and QHP issuers.

See also:

Instant Insights /

Feds slash at state PPACA navigator curbs

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