DO ELECTION RESULTS SIGNAL END OF OBAMACARE?

Highly respected industry expert Bob Laszewski provides an ongoing review of health care policy activity and the health insurance marketplace. We have followed his takes on healthcare reform for some time and have always found them to insightful, balanced, realistic...

EMPLOYER REIMBURSEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL HEALTHPLAN PREMIUMS REMAINS A BANNED PRACTICE UNDER ACA

While this was more of a hot topic when the full monty of healthcare reform was implemented back in 2014, some employers perhaps unaware of the turmoil in the individual marketplace still ask about reimbursing employees for individual health insurance policies. The...

Definition of Predicament: People Who Don’t Have Access to Employer Coverage, Aren’t Medicare Eligible, and Don’t Qualify for Subsidies

Yes, this is a bit anecdotal. Nevertheless, I think it’s  worth reporting and some may find it interesting. First, recently our team managed the annual open enrollment process for the group health plan of one of our employer clients. After a quick but thoughtful...

The HHS Move to Curtail the Availability of Short Term Health Coverage Will Hurt Consumers In Need of an Affordable Bridge To Other Coverage……

………Like Medicare or Other Employer-Sponsored Coverage. Yesterday the Obama Administration and HHS announced they were significantly curtailing the availability and use of short-term health insurance. Their reasons? Not exactly sure. Maybe it’s due to the myriad of...

HHS Publishes Out-of-Pocket Regs for 2017

This is hot off the presses. The most important announcement this past week is that HHS published the increased out-of-pocket regulations for 2017. Originally, the ACA was to cap deductibles at $2,000. That seems like a long time ago and was never really followed. In...