Repeal of National Health Care Reform Free Choice Voucher
President Obama signed a bill repealing a provision that would have required employers to offer certain low-wage employees company-paid vouchers to use when buying coverage in state health insurance exchanges.
Under the provision, employers would have been required to offer vouchers to employees with household incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level and whose premium contributions were between 8 percent and 9.8 percent of their household income.
The value of the voucher would have been equal to what their employer would have paid if the employees enrolled in a plan with the largest employer premium contribution. Employees then could have used the voucher to buy coverage in an exchange and keep the difference in cash, if the plan purchased was less.
For more information on this, please see the 
Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, HR1473
If you have further questions, please contact your account executive.
This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your legal counsel regarding your specific situation.
Please note that this content is only intended to describe national health care reform requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It does not address Massachusetts law requirements or the potential impact of Massachusetts law on federal PPACA requirements.
For purposes of PPACA implementation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts assumes the plan year is the policy year, unless an account notifies us otherwise.
