The IRS wants to know: Has your company filed Form 1095-C?
The IRS has begun enforcing the filing of Form 1095-C. Learn what your options are if you receive an IRS Letter 5699 notifying your company of noncompliance.
HSA contribution rules: Counter-intuitive coordination with Medicare
Many employees are unaware that Medicare coverage of the employee’s spouse does not necessarily have any effect on the employee’s right to make HSA contributions.
Individuals Eligible to Receive Medical Services From Indian Health Service May Now Be Eligible for a Health Savings Account
The Treasury Department issued a notice on February 1, 2012 that an individual who is eligible to receive medical services at an Indian Health Service (IHS) facility, but who has not actually received such services during the previous three months, is an eligible...
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...
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...