As part of the Federal Affordable Care Act, Health New England (HNE) and all health insurers are required to provide all their members with a new document, the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC). This new item is not a replacement for our Charts of Benefits (CoB). It contains less detail than a CoB, but includes other information that is not provided in the CoB, including examples of what Maternity or Diabetes coverage might cost the member based on their copayments and deductibles.

The requirement is to have these SBCs available for members for the first open enrollment after September 23^rd, 2012. HNE has been working on this project since the early spring, and we are confident we will meet this deadline. Members will receive SBCs from their employer groups (request them through your Salesperson or Broker) during open enrollment, directly from HNE upon renewal, and individually by request.

The federal requirements for SBCs are located on the government’s Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight CCIIIO website, here: http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/other/index.html#sbcug