Health secretary says McDonald's not dropping health plans
By Julian Pecquet - 09/30/10 12:38 PM ET
A Wall Street Journal report alleging McDonald's might stop covering 30,000 workers because of the health reform law is "flat out wrong," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday.
The story quoted a memo from McDonald's Corp. to federal officials saying it would be "economically prohibitive for our carrier" to continue offering a limited benefits plan to some 30,000 hourly workers if it has to comply with new requirements requiring plans to spend a minimum portion of premiums on care — known as the medical loss ratio.
Sebelius told reporters HHS was in no position to award a waiver on the medical loss ratio requirement because the regulation has yet to be adopted.
"We can't waive a regulation that doesn't even exist," she said.
She said the company asked for a waiver from the law's restrictions on annual limits two weeks ago and received it within 48 hours.
McDonald's says the allegation is "completely false."
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I wonder how the Wall Street Journal came by it's original story? The Journal's reporting on this seemed to go out of it's way to avoid getting the actual story.
