Wisconsin Health Fund believes its employee welfare benefit plan (“Plan”) is a “grandfathered health plan” under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Affordable Care Act”).  As permitted by the Affordable Care Act, a grandfathered health plan can preserve certain basic health coverage that was already in effect when that law was enacted.  Being a grandfathered health plan means that your Plan may not include certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act that apply to other plans, for example, the requirement for the provision of preventive health services without any cost sharing.  However, grandfathered health plans must comply with certain other provisions in the Affordable Care Act, for example, the elimination of lifetime limits on benefits. 

Questions regarding which protections apply and which protections do not apply to a grandfathered health plan, and what might cause a plan to change from grandfathered health plan status, can be directed to Wisconsin Health Fund at 1-888-208-8808, or you can send your question in writing to:  Wisconsin Health Fund, P.O. Box 601, Milwaukee, WI 53201.  You may also contact the Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Dept. of Labor at 1-866-444-3272 or www.dol.gov/ebsa/healthreform.  This website has a table summarizing which protections do and do not apply to grandfathered health plans.