Hopeful that the agencies will delay the implementation date of the just-released rules surrounding the summary of benefits and coverage (SBC), Mark Holloway of Lockton's Compliance Services Division was recently quoted in Life and Health Insurance News.com. Holloway said, "We hope (and rather expect) the agencies will delay the implementation date. The agencies were late with their proposed guidance, and the insurance industry is complaining that it does not have adequate time to come into compliance."

The agencies to which Holloway refers are the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Labor Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  - who together have developed the drafts to implement Section 2715 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) - also known as health reform.

For now, the date to implement the new SBCs is March 23, 2012. Read more of Holloway's commentary in the article, or see his entire Health Reform Advisory Alert on this topic in the new Lockton Health Reform Blog at Lockton Health Reform Blog.com.