All health plans, whether or not they are grandfathered, must provide certain benefits for plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010.

During the health reform debate, President Obama stated “if you like your health plan, you can keep it.” However, you could be in jeopardy of keeping the plan as you now know it.

The regulations address the applicable exemptions and obligations for grandfathered health plans as well as the acceptable and unacceptable plan changes to maintain grandfathered status. If you are looking for concise highlights from the 121-page document, please view our printable resources.

However, grandfathered plans that make “plan changes”, other than adding or deleting individuals from the plan, may no longer maintain grandfathered status. Grandfathered plans have the luxury of being exempt from implementing certain provisions altogether, and in turn can keep the cost of insurance down.