healthcare reform
Posted November 15th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
Several Republican political leaders indicated their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would end if Hillary Clinton were elected as President, but the exact opposite happened. Donald Trump has been elected to serve as the 45th President of the United States and is set to take office on January 20, 2017. Trump has said on numerous occasions that the very first thing he’ll do is repeal “Obamacare.” Could this actually happen?
People who have access to affordable coverage from their employer are ineligible to receive subsidies through the Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Exchange. For 2017, coverage is considered affordable if the employee’s share of premium for self-only coverage is 9.69% or less of their household modified adjusted gross income.
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires certain entities to report information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) relative to health insurance coverage. The reporting is generally completed by insurance companies, government-run Exchanges and applicable large employers. The reporting helps the IRS enforce three key provisions of the ACA:
- Most U.S. citizens and lawfully present residents must have health insurance or pay a penalty. This is referred to as the Individual Mandate. The reporting helps the IRS understand who has health insurance coverage.
Posted September 26th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is arguably the Health Insurance Marketplaces, also referred to as the Exchanges. Effective 2014, previously uninsurable individuals could start enrolling in a health insurance plan without regard to their medical history, and people who had trouble affording coverage could receive subsidies to reduce their out-of-pocket costs and/or premiums if certain requirements could be met.
Today, September 13, 2016, marks the three-year anniversary of the release date for IRS Notice 2013-54, which ironically occurred on Friday the 13th. A few years back, benefits industry leaders thought employers could be deterred from adopting Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) since much of the guidance made changes to the types of HRAs that could be offered. Below is a snapshot of the (now) permissible types of HRAs.
Posted September 6th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to evolve. Here are 10 changes expected to take effect in 2017.
Posted August 29th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
In 2013 and 2014 the word “exchange” was being used everywhere in the health insurance industry. Now, just a couple of years later, that term isn’t being used as frequently as it was just a couple years prior. Why? For one, the federal government decided the phrase “health insurance marketplace” or “marketplace” was what they would start calling their exchange. The media and general public also seem to associate the word “Obamacare” as being synonymous with the government-run exchanges. Additionally, private exchanges are not experiencing the growth rates that many had projected.
By now, you’ve probably heard about the Employer Mandate on several different occasions. Without reiterating all of the specific details, applicable large employers (ALEs) must offer health insurance coverage to full-time employees that has minimum value and is considered affordable or risk paying penalties.
Posted July 28th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
There has been a lot of shake up in the recent weeks and months as it relates to health insurance options available in the individual marketplace. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) announced it would only offer individual plan options in three states next year. Humana also announced they would be limiting the number of states it offers individual plans in next year. More recently, three additional CO-OPs in Connecticut, Illinois and Oregon announced their closures by the end of the year.
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