April 2, 2010: Amid all the debate on health care, many Teamsters are asking a nitty-gritty question—how will this affect my Teamster health coverage?
The answer is not much. Two things that go into effect this year which will benefit some Teamsters are:
- All plans must provide for coverage of dependent children up till age 26.
- No plan can impose a lifetime cap on benefits.
The first one benefits Teamsters who are supporting young-adult children who are out of school. Especially in the current depression, this is a large group of Teamster families.
The second will help Teamsters in plans with a lifetime cap, which can easily be exceeded in cases of treatment for cancer, for example.
For Teamsters with employer-paid health care, the new law will not have big impact, but will have some effects, especially indirect ones, as various parts of the law come into force in the next few years.
A timeline and summary of the various elements from the Detroit Free Press are available here.
A slide show regarding the impact, prepared by the AFL-CIO, which supported the legislation, is available here.