Health Reform
EEOC Criticized by Senate Committee for Wellness Litigation
Some of you have expressed dismay at recent EEOC litigation challenging routine (and ACA/HIPAA-compliant) wellness programs for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Turns out Congress is a bit dismayed too. At a hearing yesterday of the...
More States Recognize Same-Sex Marriages: No Mandate Yet that Self-Funded ERISA Plans Extend Coverage to Same-Sex Spouses
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 31 states and the District of Columbia now recognize same-sex marriages. Earlier this month, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear appeals challenging same-sex unions. The Supreme Court’s decision...
Deadlines and Reminders for 4th Quarter 2014
In the world of employee benefits, one of the sure signs that fall has arrived is a flurry of articles regarding compliance deadlines to be met before the end of the year. To help you get a jump on next year’s issues, we have also included some of the compliance...
Ebola: What Employers Need to Know Today
You may be wondering what impact the Ebola virus might have on your business and/or employees. Should your employees stop traveling? Just how contagious is the virus anyway? Lockton consulted with our medical, pharmacy, and benefits experts, plus some external...
California Does Us All a Favor, Repeals 60-Day Waiting Period Rule
California has repealed its recent 60-day maximum health plan waiting period rule, thus restoring some equilibrium to the health plan waiting period universe. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, or ACA for short), the federal healthcare reform law,...
Colorado Helps Fund State Exchange with New Fee on Health Insurance
The board responsible for securing financing for Colorado’s health insurance exchange – Connect for Health Colorado – has imposed a new fee on health insurance polices to help fund the state’s insurance exchange. Colorado is one of a handful of states that chose to...
Feds Exempt Insurers in U.S. Territories from Some ACA Insurance Reforms
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has indicated that it will not require insurers in the U.S. territories to comply with some of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) insurance market reforms. The U.S. territories include Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin...
Contradictory Rulings Ensure Chaos from Health Reform Law will Continue
Conflicting U.S. court of appeals rulings issued today further muddy the waters over the future of the federal health reform law colloquially known as Obamacare. The fight involves whether individuals enrolled in medical insurance through a federally-operated public...
Tobacco Cessation Treatment and the ACA’s Preventive Care Mandate
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires non-grandfathered healthcare plans to supply enrollees with a wide variety of preventive care benefits at no out-of-pocket cost. One preventive care mandate is counseling and intervention (apparently at the primary care level)...
SCOTUS Decision Interests Many, Impacts Fewer
Supreme Court decisions about religious freedom and when life begins get attention even when raised by something as commonplace as health insurance. But for most employers that offer health insurance, the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision changes nothing – they...
CMS Offers Insight into Transitional Reinsurance Fee Payment Process
On Friday, June 20, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conducted its first webcast on the mechanics of collecting and remitting the Transitional Reinsurance Fee (TRF) that will apply later this year. The TRF is imposed upon insurers and sponsors of...
Reframing the Question of Preventive Care
Although the idea of workplace wellness programs as a strategy for reducing costs and absenteeism is no longer new, certain questions remain prevalent among our employer clients and prospects. On a fairly regular basis, Lockton’s Health Risk Solutions Consultants are...
Beware: Next Year, HSA-Compatible HDHPs Cannot Use ACA Out-of-Pocket Limit
Most employers are familiar with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision that sets upper limits on the out-of-pocket (OOP) maximums that non-grandfathered group health plans may apply to essential health benefits. (We’re referring to these as the “ACA cost-sharing...
Good News (Sort of) Regarding HRAs in San Francisco
San Francisco authorities have partially reinvigorated—albeit at the eleventh hour—the use of health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) as a way to satisfy the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) for 2014 and beyond. For the first time, the City will...
Excepted Benefits and Canceled Policies Tackled by Feds in Latest ACA Guidance
Written by Mark Holloway, J.D. ‘Twas the Friday before Christmas, and federal regulators upheld their tradition of issuing regulatory guidance just before a major holiday. This latest installment proposes changes to the federal health reform law’s (the Affordable Care...