Health Reform
An Ode to the Obvious: The Affordable Care Act’s Sputtering Health Insurance Exchanges
It could not have been more obvious. When we were on Capitol Hill in 2009 and 2010 talking to members of Congress about the impending Affordable Care Act, we told anyone willing to listen, “If you’re going to federally subsidize individual insurance coverage in new...
IRS Proposed Rules on ACA and 2014 Expat Law Address Some But Not All Mysteries of EHCCA
In late 2014, Congress enacted a law intended to clarify how the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) applied to health insurance provided to US expatriates—both US nationals abroad and foreign nationals in the US. The Expatriate Health Coverage Clarification...
Supreme Court Tells Government and Religious Employers to “Work it Out” Instead of Deciding Contested Contraceptives Case
Absent a ninth justice to presumably cast a deciding vote, the Supreme Court told Health and Human Services (HHS) and various religious employers challenging HHS’s contraceptive mandate accommodation to head back to the negotiating table. As described in our recent...
And the ACA Litigation Keeps On Keepin’ On…
A federal trial court judge has ruled that the Obama Administration cannot use federal funds to reimburse health insurers providing cost-sharing subsidies in the online health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The judge won’t enforce her...
An Apple (Watch) a Day Keeps You Moving!
As employer sponsored programs gain momentum, more and more creative solutions are being offered to help motivate employees toward changing behaviors. In an effort to improve employee health, fitness devices have quickly become a powerful way to incent goal setting...
The Presidential Candidates and Their Views on Health Insurance
With five main candidates still standing (at least for now), we thought we’d take a moment to provide a quick review of where they stand on the issue of health insurance. Specifically, how should it be provided, through what channels, and who should pay for it? So...
You Have Your Ducks in a Row for the Employer Mandate?
Your Auditor May Want to Know. After close to six years, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has matured into the massive regulatory behemoth we always feared it would be. After some fits and starts, including delays and transition rules, 2016 marks the first year of...
New Test Can Quickly Diagnose Zika Virus
If, like me, you’ve been waiting for some good news related to the Zika virus, we finally have some. A rapid test for detecting the virus has been developed by two major Texas health centers, according to an announcement they made earlier this week. The test offers...
The ACA, Student Health Plans, and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), with its massive-and-growing-bigger-by-the-day tail of regulations, proposed regulations and other guidance, has created its share of unintended consequences. One of those consequences has fallen hard on health insurance stipends and...
Our Long National Nightmare Is Not Over: CMS Asks Employers to Verify TRF Filings for 2014
An FAQ regarding transitional insurance fee (TRF) submissions for 2014 appeared on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “REGTAP” site on May 12, 2015. (CMS uses REGTAP to provide information on several different programs it administers, including TRF...
Flu Vaccines: Skeptical or Smart?
Whether we want to think about it or not, flu season is upon us. Fortunately flu activity is low in the US right now, but according to tracking managed by the CDC, there are early signs that activity is beginning to increase. And we all know what that means: messages...
The Gift that Keeps on Giving: New FAQs on Wellness, Preventive Care and Mental Health Parity
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), US Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the three agencies responsible for policing everyone’s two favorite laws, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the federal mental health parity law,...
IRS Revisits Minimum Value Lite Plans: Transition Relief Expires on Dec. 31, 2015, for Calendar Year Plans
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revisited its fascination with so-called Minimum Value (MV) Lite plans that, as originally designed, claimed to satisfy the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) minimum value health plan standard without covering inpatient...
Agencies Define the Closely Held, For-Profit Employers That May Invoke Accommodations for Religious Objections to Contraception
In regulations dated July 14, 2015, federal agencies took the next step in addressing religious objections to coverage of contraceptives by issuing final regulations under which certain closely held, for-profit businesses may avoid a requirement that their health...
IRS Issues Interim Guidance on New Expat Law and Invites Comments
Buried in the budget law signed by the President last December is the Expatriate Health Coverage Clarification Act of 2014. Known as EHCCA, this act exempts some expat coverage from several thorny Affordable Care Act-related requirements, and treats the coverage as...