Skip Navigation
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

States-EERP

Louisiana – Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

Rising health care costs have made it difficult for employers to provide quality, affordable health insurance for workers and retirees while also remaining competitive in the global marketplace. The percentage of large firms providing workers with retiree health coverage has dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 29 percent in 2009.1 Health insurance premiums for older Americans are over four times more expensive than they are for young adults,2 and the deductible these enrollees pay is, on average, almost four times that for a typical employer-sponsored insurance plan.3

The Affordable Care Act creates a new program called the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program to help address this challenge that employers and older employees are facing.  The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program provides $5 billion in financial assistance to employers and unions to help them maintain coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for Medicare.

Businesses, other employers, and unions that are accepted into the program will receive reimbursement for medical claims for early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents. Savings can be used to reduce employer health care costs, provide premium relief to workers and families, or both. Applicants who are approved into the program receive reinsurance for the claims of high-cost retirees and their families (80 percent of the costs from $15,000 to $90,000). The program ends on January 1, 2014 when State health insurance Exchanges are up and running.

HHS has approved the following sponsors from Louisiana. More applications are being approved each day.

  • Acadia Parish School Board
  • Albemarle Corporation
  • Ascension Parish School Board
  • Ascension, Parish of
  • Board of Commissioners of The Port of New Orleans
  • Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University
  • Board of TTEE, New Orleans Employers International Longshoremen's
  • Caddo Parish School Board
  • Calcasieu Parish School Baord
  • CenturyLink, Inc.
  • City of Baton Rouge / Parish of East Baton Rouge
  • City of Deridder
  • City of Mandeville
  • CITY OF MORGAN CITY
  • City of New Orleans
  • City of Ruston
  • City of Slidell
  • Cleco Corporation
  • Community Coffee Company, L.L.C.
  • DeSoto Parish School Board
  • Dixie Electric Membership Corporation*
  • East Baton Rouge Parish School System
  • EATEL Corp, Inc.
  • Entergy Corporation
  • FMOL Health System, Inc.
  • Hunt Forest Products, INC.
  • Iberia General Hosp & Med Ctr*
  • Iberia Parish School Board
  • Insurance Committee of the Assessors' Insurance Fund
  • International Matex Tank Terminals
  • Jefferson Parish
  • LA Carpenters Regional Council
  • Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government
  • Lafayette Parish School Board General Fund
  • Lafayette Parish*
  • Lafourche Parish School Board
  • lberville Parish School Board
  • Lincoln Parish School Board*
  • Louisiana Clerks of Court Insurance Trust
  • Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
  • Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Company
  • Louisiana Sheriffs Association
  • Orleans Levee District
  • Pan American Life Insurance Company
  • Parish of East Baton Rouge Sheriff & Ex Officio Tax Collector
  • Phelps Dunbar LLP*
  • Plaquemines Parish Government
  • Plumbers and Steamfitters Health Welfare and Educational Fund
  • Recreation and Park Commission for East Baton Rouge (BREC)
  • Rubicon LLC
  • Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans
  • Sheet Metal Workers Local #21
  • St- Bernard Parish Government
  • St Charles Parish Sheriff & Ex-Officio Tax Collect
  • St. Charles Parish
  • St. Charles Parish School Board
  • St. James Parish School Board
  • St. John the Baptist Parish School Board
  • St. Martin Parish School Board
  • St. Mary Parish School Board
  • St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office
  • St. Tammany Parish Government
  • St. Tammany Parish School Board
  • State of Louisiana, Division of Administration, Office of Group Benefits
  • Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
  • Terrebonne Parish School Board
  • The Bossier Parish School Board
  • Tidewater Inc.
  • Transit Management of Southeast Louisiana*
  • Turner Industries Group, LLC
  • United Assn of Journeymen & Appmtc/198 Hlth & Welf
  • Vermilion Parish School Board
  • Webster Parish Police Jury
  • West Baton Rouge Parish Council
  • West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital Foundation
  • West Feliciana Parish School Board

[1] Kaiser / HRET. Employer Health Benefits: 2009 Survey.
[2] Center for Policy and Research. Individual Health Insurance 2009.
[3] Kaiser Family Foundation. 2010. Survey of People Who Purchase Their Own Insurance.

Back to Map