HHS issued a notice announcing that it will not process any claims for reimbursement under the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) incurred after December 31, 2011. Claims are being cut off because the ERRP is approaching the limit of $5 billion allocated under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For more information on the ERRP, see Practice Note, Early Retiree Reinsurance Program.

Claim lists with even one claim incurred after December 31, 2011 will be denied in their entirety.

The notice reminds employers that claims can be submitted to ERRP only after they have been both incurred and paid. Therefore, for a claim that is incurred on or before December 31, 2011, but paid after December 31, 2011, an employer may submit the claim, but not until after it has been paid. Existing Q&A guidance under the ERRP provides detailed information regarding when various types of claims are considered to be incurred and paid.

Therefore, plan sponsors should not include claims incurred after December 31, 2011 in their requests for reimbursement. If the availability of funds changes in coming weeks and HHS decides it can approve claims incurred after December 31, 2011, it will provide notice to this effect.

This notice became effective December 9, 2011.