On June 13, 2019, The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued the final rule expanding health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) which allows employers greater flexibility in the breadth and scope of HRAs available for their employees. Background: Since 2013, regulations have prohibited employers from paying for an employee’s individual health insurance policy [...]
On December 14th, the U.S. District Court for the Fifth Circuit in Texas ruled the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional in light of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 which eliminated the tax penalty under the individual mandate. The district court sided with 20 Republican state attorneys general that argued since the individual [...]
The article below was published on September 27, 2017 by Employee Benefit News, written by John Barkett and Julie Stone. The Affordable Care Act brought some significant changes to employer-sponsored healthcare, which employers factored into their long-term healthcare strategies. Revised plans were built to comply with the law’s many complex requirements, even though employers hoped [...]
The article below was published on June 23, 2017 by Employee Benefit News, written by Mark Johnson. The new healthcare bill, revealed by U.S. Senate Republicans Thursday, could bring significant changes to organizations and their employees. Granted, there’s a long way to go before any Obamacare replacement legislation is signed. But health insurance is a [...]
The article below is from BenefitsPRO written by Dinesh Sheth on May 16, 2017. Let the politicians argue about who is going to pay for health care and who is not. Photo: Getty Images Business owners across all industries are facing uncertainty surrounding the status of current laws and regulations. A Republican majority [...]
The National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) Operation Shout! On May 4, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a reconciliation bill to repeal and replace portions of the ACA. It will now be considered by the Senate, where it is expected to be significantly altered, including possibly addressing [...]
When Congress delayed the Cadillac Tax until 2020, the same law placed a one-year moratorium on the annual fee the ACA imposes on health insurance carriers. While the fee does not have a direct impact on TPAs or self-funded plans, it does sometimes impact stop loss premiums. Since this fee applied to insurance carriers and [...]
Article written by Michael W. Ferguson, as seen in the New York Post New York’s state legislators are thinking small — literally. The state’s definition of “small business” expanded Jan. 1, thanks to legislation passed in 2013. Many firms that thought of themselves as medium-size are now legally considered “small.” One consequence: They’re barred from [...]
When President Obama signed the new Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 into law in late December, he delayed both the Cadillac and Medical Device taxes by two years, from 2018 to 2020. The legislation also provided for the deductibility of the Cadillac Tax, which is an excise tax of 40% on the “excess benefit” of [...]
Article is from Zack Pace, from Employee Benefit News (EBN) Commentary: As you’ve no doubt noticed, the federal government made sweeping legislative and regulatory changes to the Affordable Care Act during the fourth quarter of 2015. During the last two weeks of December, I felt like I was drinking from a six-inch fire hose. How [...]
