A group of voluntary health organizations is urging Congress to put an end to lifetime and annual health insurance caps as it debates health care reform.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), located in Danbury, Conn., recently took out a full-page ad in The Politico indicating that Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes loopholes allowing such caps to continue for most Americans.

Peter L. Saltonstall

Peter L. Saltonstall, NORD’s president, said that the organization supports health care reform and welcomes efforts made by President Barack Obama and Congress to eliminate lifetime and annual caps, but a closer look at the Senate bill is required.

“Under the current version of the Senate bill, caps would continue for several years for many people and would never be eliminated for others,” Saltonstall said in a statement.

The group said the current version of the Senate bill “grandfathers” existing insurance plans so that existing plans would be subject to annual lifetime caps indefinitely. The bill, proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), also allows self-insured plans to impose annual or lifetime caps indefinitely, according to NORD.

That stipulation means that many people with employer-provided insurance would still be subject to caps, the group stated. And where the bill does recommend eliminating caps, it would not do so for several years.

Caps on coverage can lead to financial crisis or bankruptcy when insurance benefits are exhausted for those NORD advocates for: Americans with chronic diseases, rare disorders and major medical crises.

NORD sent a letter to all members of Congress and Obama earlier this fall highlighting four measures it considers essential to any reform plan: prohibiting discrimination based on pre-existing conditions; protecting patients against catastrophic out-of-pocket costs and lifetime or annual caps; prohibiting insurers from canceling policies as a result of medical diagnoses; and including tax credits and other direct financing support to assure that all Americans can afford coverage.