No, there is no waiver from all of health care reform. Employers may be thinking of the term "grandfathered plans," which refers to plans in existence on March 23, 2010, which have made minimal changes, defined under regulations, and are therefore exempt from some, but not all, of health care reform's mandates.

More abundant in the news, however, have been references to the "annual limit waivers," which have been granted to many prominent restaurant chains and labor unions. The annual limit waiver was brought about due to the fact that health care reform first restricts, and then later prohibits (in 2014), annual dollar limits on the value of "essential health benefits." Until 2014, restricted annual limits on essential health benefits are permissible under a three-year phased approach.

• $750,000 for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010, but before Sept. 23, 2011
• $1.25 million for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2011, but before Sept. 23, 2012
• $2 million for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2014

For plans issued or renewed beginning Jan. 1, 2014, all annual dollar limits on coverage of essential health benefits will be prohibited.

A class of group health plans and health insurance coverage generally known as "limited benefit" plans or "mini-med" plans often has annual limits well below the restricted annual limits set out in the interim final regulations. Because this is often the only type of private insurance available to some workers, temporary waivers from the restricted annual limit requirements were previously available. For plan years beginning before Jan. 1, 2014, the interim final regulations allowed HHS to establish a program under which the requirements relating to restricted annual limits may be waived for plans that were offered prior to Sept. 23, 2010 — if compliance would result in a significant decrease in access to benefits or a significant increase in premiums.

However, in June 2011, HHS issued guidance to revise the waiver program to establish new procedures and impose an application cutoff of Sept. 22, 2011, for all waiver extensions and new waiver requests. This means that the waiver process has now concluded, and no waivers will be granted for new waiver applications received after Sept. 22, 2011. Applications received after Sept. 22, 2011, will not be accepted, which means that any plan or policy that did not receive a waiver must be in compliance with the annual dollar limits on essential health benefits described above.

If a plan was granted a waiver by Sept. 22, 2011, that plan will be required to submit an Annual Limit Update in order to retain eligibility for the annual limit waiver through 2014. The first Annual Limit Update must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2012, and the second by Dec. 31, 2013.

Click here for additional information about the waiver process.