*scrambles to inbox*

If you’re like most people, you didn’t know you could be getting a rebate on your health insurance premiums this year. I just got mine in the mail.

Here’s why?

oOne major, yet little known, requirement of the Affordable Care Act (health care reform) was that a major medical health insurance plan be required to spend at least 80-85% of collected premium dollars on member medical care. This is the law’s so-called “medical loss ratio” rule. Now, every year, insurers who don’t meet this medical loss ratio (MLR) requirement have to refund the difference to policyholders.

Why are health insurers sending these rebates to some of their customers?

Health care reform (Obamacare) required health insurers to limit what they spend from the monthly premiums they collect from policyholders on overhead. The law requires 80-85 cents of every dollar an insurer brings in through member premiums, be paid to cover medical expenses for the plan’s members. The difference between the insurer payments for medical expenses and the total incoming premiums are known as the insurance company’s “medical loss ratio.” And, the insurers that spend less than 80-85% of premiums on medical care have to pay customers back in the form of a refund.

BTW, if you’re on Linkedin, you may be eligible to receive up to $1500 in a class action lawsuit they have agreed to settle.