HHS Limits Penalties Insurers Can Levy On Smokers Under ACA

In continuing coverage, CQ (7/10, Bunis, Subscription Publication) reports that the latest delay to the Affordable Care Act is on insurers’ ability to “levy huge surcharges for some smokers,” put off at least a year. This smokers’ penalty has been delayed because of a “system limitation” as HHS put it in a question-and-answer document issued June 28. As the article explains, “insurers can still charge higher rates to smokers,” but “the penalties have to be in the 3-to-1 proportion as the age rating bands.”