Section 2718 of the PHS Act and its
implementing regulation requires health insurance issuers (issuers)
offering group or individual health insurance coverage to submit an
annual report to the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Services concerning the amount the issuer spends each year on
claims, quality improvement expenses, non-claims costs, Federal and
State taxes, licensing and regulatory fees, the amount of earned
premium for the reporting year, its medical loss ratio and any
rebate it may owe to subscribers. In addition, the implementing
regulation requires issuers to maintain all documents and other
evidence which support the data that is provided in an issuer's
annual report to the Secretary.
Based upon HHS' experience in
the MLR data collection and evaluation process, HHS is updating its
annual burden hour estimates to reflect the actual numbers of
submissions, rebates and rebate notices. In addition, the notice
requirement for issuers that do not owe rebates applied only to the
2011 reporting year, and does not apply to 2012 and subsequent MLR
reporting years. The 2012 MLR Reporting Form and instructions also
reflect changes for the 2012 reporting year and beyond that are set
forth in the December 2011 Final Rule as to whether certain already
reported expenditures such as ICD-10 conversion costs are taken
into account in calculating an issuer's MLR. In addition, as a
result of Tri-Agency guidance, we have revised the MLR Form
Instructions to reflect that for the 2012 MLR reporting year,
expatriate plans are considered compliant with MLR requirements.
For the 2012 MLR reporting year, issuers with only expatriate
business are not required to file an MLR Form. Issuers with health
insurance coverage which is subject to MLR requirements who also
have expatriate experience must report the same limited information
regarding their expatriate experience as they do regarding other
lines of business that are not subject to the MLR rebate
requirements. Therefore, there is a total decrease of 176,378
burden hours (from, 479,928 hours to 303,550). We have simplified
the method by which issuers can enter their data into the reporting
form. For the 2012 MLR reporting year, all data cells will be
unlocked so that issuers can copy and paste data into the reporting
form instead of manually entering data cell by cell. To assist
issuers in populating cells that were previously locked and
pre-calculated, CMS will provide a reference tool with formula
calculations, which issuers may use if they find it helpful. The
new method will reduce the burden on issuers as well as the
possibility of error in formula results. The 2012 MLR Reporting
Form and instructions also reflect changes for the 2012 reporting
year and beyond that are set forth in the December 2011 Final Rule
as to whether certain already reported expenditures such as ICD-10
conversion costs are taken into account in calculating an issuer's
MLR. In addition, as a result of Tri-Agency guidance, we have
revised the MLR Form Instructions to reflect that for the 2012 MLR
reporting year, expatriate plans are considered compliant with MLR
requirements. For the 2012 MLR reporting year, issuers with only
expatriate business are not required to file an MLR Form. Issuers
with health insurance coverage which is subject to MLR requirements
who also have expatriate experience must report the same limited
information regarding their expatriate experience as they do
regarding other lines of business that are not subject to the MLR
rebate requirements.
$72,288
No
No
Yes
No
No
Uncollected
William Parham
4107864669
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.