Health Reform
Student Health Plans and Health Care Reform
HHS recently issued a final regulation on student health care coverage offered by colleges and universities. The regulation defines "student health insurance coverage" as a type of individual health insurance coverage provided by an institution of higher education...
Christmas in August
Under the federal health reform law, insurers offering health coverage must meet minimum “medical loss ratios,” that is, they must spend a minimum percentage of premiums they collect in a given state, for a given year, on medical claims or quality improvements for...
Health Reform Arguments: Round Three
Well, we didn’t see this coming. Wednesday morning, during the third of three days of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the federal health reform law’s “individual mandate,” the Court’s conservative justices made clear their doubts about the...
Atlas Shrugged or Hugged? Second Day of Health Reform Arguments Reflects Supreme Court’s Ideological Divide
Day two of the oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court, regarding the constitutionality of the federal health reform law’s “individual mandate,” did not disappoint. If Monday’s oral arguments (largely dealing with jurisdictional issues) were tantamount...
Let the Games Begin
Although we don’t have the final score, it appears the high-profile challenge to the federal health reform law’s “individual mandate” has survived its first-round matchup in the Supreme Court’s version of the NCAA’s March Madness. For those of you addicted to the...
Just in time for spring! Feds issue final rules for health insurance exchanges
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued final and interim final regulations on the establishment of the state health insurance exchanges that will begin operation in 2014. The final regulations will be effective May 26, 2012, with HHS...
Religiously-Affiliated, Self-Funded Health Plans and Contraceptive Coverage
In early February, the Obama administration announced a compromise on the requirement that non-grandfathered health insurance plans offered by religiously-affiliated employers offer free birth control to female participants. Insurance companies that underwrite the...
Senate Defeats Birth Control Amendment
On Thursday, March 1st, 2012, the United States Senate narrowly defeated a proposal by Republican Roy Blunt of Missouri, that would have permitted not only church-affiliated organizations such as Catholic hospitals, universities, schools and charities to opt out of...
IRS Supplements W-2 Reporting Guidance
The IRS has provided additional guidance regarding the obligation on the part of many employers to report health plan coverage values on 2012 Forms W-2 (the Forms that will be issued to employees early in 2013). What does this mean to you, as an employer? Read the...
CMS Issues FAQs on Essential Health Benefits; Uncertainty Reigns for Self-Funded Plans
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has issued a set of twenty-two frequently asked questions on essential health benefits (EHBs) under the Patient Protection and...
Compromise Still Guarantees Contraceptive Coverage
Seeking to curtail the political uproar over birth control and religious liberty, President Obama announced today a compromise on the requirement that non-grandfathered health insurance plans offered by religiously-affiliated institutions offer free birth control to...
Religiously-Affiliated Institutions Get Extra Year to Comply with Birth Control Rule
On January 20, 2012 the Obama administration announced it would give Catholic hospitals and other religiously-affiliated institutions an additional year to comply with a health reform rule requiring non-grandfathered health plans to provide free birth control to...
Cost-Savings through Value-Based Health Care Payments: Bad News, But Perhaps a Roadmap for Ultimate Success
Two studies released recently paint starkly different pictures regarding the ability of the nation’s health care system to reduce costs by coordinating care and paying health care providers on the basis of quality and efficiency. The studies are interesting because...
Administration Trumpets State Efforts on Exchanges
The White House today issued a report describing the progress 10 states have made in establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Recall that under 2010’s federal health reform law, every state is tasked with establishing an insurance exchange—a sort of online purchasing...
Getting a Jump on 2013’s Health FSA Limit
Effective January 1, 2013, health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) must limit benefits to $2,500 per calendar year per enrolled employee. The limit appears to apply only to employee pre-tax contributions to health FSAs. Because the vast majority of health FSAs are...