Health Reform
Feds Issue New Standards for Electronic Transfer of Funds between Health Plans and Providers
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued an interim final rule that provides standards for the electronic payments between health plans and healthcare providers such as doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. The new rules are required by the...
Supreme Court to Hear Health Reform Case in March
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality and other aspects of last year's federal health reform law over three days in late March, 2012. See the online article posted today by Jerry Geisel at Business Insurance for more detailed...
HHS Announces End of Early Retirement Reimbursement Program
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced late last week that the $5 billion Early Retirement Reimbursement Program (ERRP) fund, established under last year’s health reform law to reimburse sponsors of retiree plans for a portion of claims incurred...
HHS Prods States on Exchanges; Issues FAQs in Advance of 2012 State Legislative Sessions
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that discuss key questions for the states to ponder as they consider how best to structure their insurance exchanges. According to HHS, the FAQs are intended...
Supreme Court Sets Schedule for Health Reform Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide next year whether the “individual mandate” under 2010’s federal health reform law is constitutional (and if not, whether the remainder of the law must also be thrown out). Although the date for arguments on these matters has not been...
Four-Page Health Plan Summaries Likely Not Required by March, 2012
Here’s some long-expected, but nevertheless welcome news. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an announcement yesterday reassuring health plan sponsors that the Department will give them “sufficient time to comply” with final regulations (once the regulations...
Let the Games Begin: The Supremes Agree to Hear Appeal on Health Reform Law
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal on whether President Obama’s health reform law can impose penalties on Americans who do not purchase health insurance beginning in 2014. Known as the “individual mandate,” the provision in the law has been...
Another Federal Appeals Court Upholds the “Individual Mandate”
Another federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of the health reform law’s individual mandate, the obligation that virtually all Americans obtain health insurance by 2014 or face potential penalties. The ruling, by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for...
Health Reform-Imposed Taxes, Fees and Other Assessments on Health Plans: A Primer
The health reform law imposes a number of fees, taxes and other assessments on health insurance companies and plans, to help subsidize a number of endeavors. Several clients have asked about these fees, taxes and assessments. The purpose of this blog posting is to...
Final ACO Regulation Relaxes Requirements
On Thursday, October 19th, the Obama Administration released its final regulations on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), networks of doctors and hospitals that are rewarded under a Medicare pilot program for delivering higher-quality, coordinated care to Medicare...
On Wisconsin! Badgers Become Last State to Conform to Federal Tax Rule on Adult Child Coverage
One of the nearly immediate benefit mandates under the health reform law is the obligation on the part of health plans to cover eligible employees’ dependent children to age 26. The mandate includes a corollary provision in the federal tax law that makes the extended...
CLASS Dismissed
The Health and Human Services Department said today it is walking away from efforts to implement a long-term care entitlement program included in last year's healthcare reform law. The program, called Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS), is...
IRS Proposes “Play or Pay” Safe Harbor for Employers; HHS Inches Closer to “Essential Health Benefits” Guidance
Here’s a quick update of a couple interesting things going on in the world of healthcare reform. We thought these topics were not worthy of a full-fledged Alert, so we’re posting them here, on our Health Reform Blog. IRS Comes Through as Promised: Proposes “W-2 Safe...
Full Steam Ahead: White House to Ask the Supremes to Rule on Constitutionality of Individual Mandate
As my Constitutional law professor once quipped, “Congress can make you diaper your dog.” However, beginning in 2014, can Congress make individuals pay a penalty if they do not have health insurance coverage? Later today, the lawyers for the White House will ask the...
Fensholt, Holloway Published in Benefits Law Journal, RE: Health Reform
Lockton Benefit Group Compliance Directors – and health reform experts – Ed Fensholt and Mark Holloway recently penned an article for Benefits Law Journal entitled Congress Repeals Expanded 1099 Reporting and IRS Issues W-2 Reporting Guidance. In addition to...