Headlines about "Health plans - policy"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
[Guidance Overview] New IRS Guidance Regarding Reimbursement of Over-the-Counter Medicine and Drugs (PDF)
3 pages. (American Benefits Council)

[Guidance Overview] IRS Draft of Form for Calculating New Health Care Tax Credit
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the form that small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use to calculate the small business health care tax credit when they file income tax returns next year. The IRS has posted a draft of Form 8941 on its Web site [at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f8941--dft.pdf]." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Opinion] The Big Small Business Health Insurance Problem under the New Law
Excerpt: "One part of the new law is a set of tax credits and penalties designed to encourage employers to provide insurance.The problem is that for most young small businesses, it won't work.That's the conclusion I reached, based on research I conducted with Alicia Robb of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation." (Bloomberg Businessweek)

HHS's New Secure Website for Early Retiree Reinsurance Program Applicants and Provides List of Approved Applicants
Excerpt: "Although HHS is still accepting applications, it is unclear whether the $5 billion appropriated for this program will last until 2014, so we encourage interested plan sponsors to quickly apply for approval and to submit their reimbursement requests as soon as they can." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Audio and Transcript: Dealing with Health Reform Myths
Excerpt: "As the Obama administration continues to implement the health care overhaul law, some myths ? including a requirement that workers must pay taxes on their health insurance next year ? have begun to circulate." (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Health Law Myths: Outside the Realm of Reality
Excerpt: "[Many of the] more outlandish claims have at least some basis in truth. Here are some of the more popular myths about the law and the fact that gave rise to them." (Morning Edition via National Public Radio)

Maintaining Grandfathered Status for Health Care Plans Appears to Be Exercise in Frustration, Says Expert
Excerpt: "The list of triggers that negate a health-care plan's 'grandfathered' status is long and easy to trip over, including such actions as switching insurance carriers and tinkering with employees' share of healthcare costs in any substantive way." (CFO.com)

The Boston Health Law Reporter, Summer 2010 (PDF)
30 pages. The articles in this edition present a health law analysis. (Boston Bar Association)

HHS Announces Approved ERRP Applicants; New Resources Available for Employers (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Approximately 2,000 employers, state and local governments, educational institutions, non-profits, and unions have been accepted into the [Early Retiree Reinsurance Program] and will be able to receive reimbursements for early retiree claims this fall." (Hewitt Associates)

State Reform Dominates Boston, Massachusetts, Health Care Market Dynamics
Excerpt: "A key provision of Massachusetts' health reform law was the merger of the small group and individual, or nongroup, insurance markets, which was designed to make premiums more affordable for individual purchasers." (Center for Studying Health System Change)

The Impact of Health Reform on Small Businesses
Excerpt: "Analysis shows that up to 16.6 million workers are in firms that would be eligible for the tax credit in 2010 to 2013. Over the next 10 years, small businesses and organizations could receive an estimated $40 billion in federal support through the premium credit program." (The Commonwealth Fund)

[Guidance Overview] Simple Cafeteria Plans under Health Care Reform (PDF)
Pages 4-5 of 6 pages. (Trucker Huss)

[Opinion] Plan Sponsors Not Focused on Same Issues As Advisers & Regulators
Interview with PlanSponsor's Nevin Adams. Excerpt: "Adams: Like their workers, I find most plan sponsors are more worried about the here-and-now aspects of health care reform than they are retirement plans, per se. People are people, after all, and there is a strong sense that we have more time to deal with retirement than with health care, and there is a great concern about what the new law will require, and how that will impact existing programs, and what that will mean." (Fiduciary News)

[Opinion] First Obamacare Casualty: Health Insurance Agents, Rest In Peace
Excerpt: "The first casualties of ObamaCare -- not counting truth and the trust the public had placed in President Obama to keep his promises -- will be health insurance agents. That proud army of tens of thousands of Americans whose calling was to help individuals and employers work through the maze of available health insurance policies to find one that met their clients' needs." (Merrill Matthews on Forbes.com)

[Opinion] Pro & Con: Will Health Overhaul Provide Better Care for U.S. Workers?
Excerpt: "YES: Entrepreneurs will better afford coverage and options will increase. . . . NO: Businesses will drop health plans and hire fewer workers because of the costs." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Health Insurers, Employers May Battle Lawsuits, Pay Out Big-Ticket Claims Under Healthcare Reform
Excerpt: "Not requiring plan members to use their external review options as a precondition to filing a lawsuit could increase legal costs . . . . Plans must make available external review mechanisms with independent review organizations, but going directly to court is allowed." (Messenger-Inquirer via Thomson Business Intelligence Service on InsuranceNewsNet.com)

[Opinion] Public Employee Pension Reforms Recipe for Disaster
Excerpt: "While many of the people, including the Daily News, calling for reform are acknowledging that private-sector workers have lost tremendous value on their retirement plans, incredibly they present that as a model for public-sector employees!" (Paul Weber in the Los Angeles Daily News)

American Medical Association and State Medical Societies Back Plan Limiting Insurers Administrative Spending
Excerpt: "Physician and hospital organizations have expressed general support for a proposal from state insurance commissioners on what health insurers should be allowed to consider medical spending under new health system reform regulations." (American Medical Association)

[Opinion] Comments to HHS by Employers Council on Flexible Compensation, on Application of Patient?Protection?and?Affordable?Care?Act?to Health Reimbursement Arrangements (PDF) (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Given that HRAs are not set up with a bright line annual limit and that they are most often used in conjunction with primary overage as a supplemental benefit, ECFC urges the agencies to exempt all HRAs from the prohibition on annual limits. The exemption should apply regardless of whether or not primary coverage is offered through the individual's employer or is obtained through another avenue, such as a spouse's employer." (Employers Council on Flexible Compensation)

[Opinion] Comments to HHS by Employers Council on Flexible Compensation, on Application of Healthcare Reform to Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangements (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Given that HRAs are not set up with a bright line annual limit and that they are most often used in conjunction with primary overage as a supplemental benefit, ECFC urges the agencies to exempt all HRAs from the prohibition on annual limits. The exemption should apply regardless of whether or not primary coverage is offered through the individual's employer or is obtained through another avenue, such as a spouse's employer." (Employers Council on Flexible Compensation)

[Opinion] Comments to HHS by Employers Council on Flexible Compensation, on Application of PPA to Health Reimbursement Arrangements (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Given?that?HRAs?are?not?set?up?with?a?bright?line?annual?limit?and?that?they?are?most?often?used?in?conjunction?with?primary?overage?as?a?supplemental?benefit,?ECFC?urges?the?agencies?to?exempt?all?HRAs?from?the?prohibition?on?annual?limits.??The?exemption?should?apply?regardless?of?whether?or?not?primary?coverage?is?offered?through?the?individual's?employer?or?is?obtained?through?another?avenue,?such?as?a?spouse's?employer." (Employers Council on Flexible Compensation)

Employers Packaging Next Year's Benefits Plans Confront Health Insurance Overhaul
Excerpt: "While not every employer blames the new law, one executive said the carriers she's dealing with say the rate hikes are attributable to new requirements such as coverage of preventive services, and extending benefits to adult children . . . ." (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

[Opinion] 'Putting the Brakes on ObamaCare'
Excerpt: "The real wallop of ObamaCare will come in 2014, when most of the spending begins and businesses and individuals are hit with intrusive and expensive mandates. The main job of Republicans, should they capture Congress, will be to slow down implementation of the law and explain to the American people the damage it will do -- and already is doing -- to our economy. . . . Published in The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2010." (The Wall Street Journal via Galen Institute)

Employers Urge Regulators to Ease Rules for Keeping Health Plan 'Grandfathered' Status Under Reform
Excerpt: "Extensive comments from employer groups urge more flexible rules giving employers greater ability to control costs and make other plan changes without losing grandfathered status. Specific recommendations include easing cost-sharing and contribution restrictions and allowing plans to switch from insured to self-insured status and to make network provider or formulary changes." (Mercer LLC)

Minnesota Department of Revenue Comments on State Tax Nonconformity with Federal Code
Excerpt: "There are two specific provisions at issue. The first involves the tax treatment of health benefits provided to employees' children who are less than 26 years old but may not be the employee's 'dependent' for tax purposes. The second is the exemption for employer provided adoption assistance." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

Federal Agencies Offer Safe Harbor on External Review Processes under PPACA
Excerpt: "Federal agencies have announced the availability of EBSA Technical Release No. 2010-01, which provides an interim enforcement safe harbor for non-grandfathered self-insured group health plans not subject to a State external review process, and therefore subject to the Federal external review process." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Official Guidance] Text of Request by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for Suggestions on Measuring Health Plan Members' Health Literacy Needs (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The [AHRQ] is soliciting the submission of instruments or items that measure how well health plans and health providers address health plan enrollees' health literacy needs and how well they communicate with health plan enrollees. . . . The intent of the planned survey is to gain patients' perspective on how well health and health plan information is communicated to them by healthcare professionals and health plans." (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

Who Will Pay? Inter-Generational Transfers and Public Sector Pensions
Excerpt: "This paper analyses the different channels through which particular generations within one society can end up subsidising other generations through the functioning of the welfare state. The welfare state, which is organised and funded by 'society' through taxation, plays an important part in almost all countries, often providing services such as education and health care or transfers such as state pensions." (Social Science Research Network)

[Opinion] Will Health Care Reform Law Force the Industry to Cut Overhead and Get More Efficient to Cut Costs?
Excerpt: "The law makes brief mention of deducting 'federal and state taxes' from premiums before the percentage of health care is figured, but doesn't define which taxes. It also allows insurance companies to newly include their own 'health quality improvements' directly in the health care percentage--but doesn't define them. That vagueness offers massive leeway for mischief." (Consumer Watchdog)

Health Care Reform Act Provision Vastly Expands Information Reporting Requirements.
Excerpt: "Large businesses generally maintain so-called vendor or accounts payable ledgers, so they often already track such payments. For them, information reporting could simply involve transferring this information to a Form 1099. Depending on any relief granted, payments to employees as vendors for expense reimbursements could minimize the added burden of accumulating this data for the vendors used by each employee." (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)

Health Care Tax Break for Small Businesses: How It Works
Excerpt: "The amount of the tax credit an employer could receive works on a sliding scale. The maximum credit goes to smaller employers -- those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent employees -- paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less." (AARP)

[Opinion] Why Are Large Employers Unable to Control Their Health Benefit Costs?
Excerpt: "The reason is quite simple. Our fragmented, dysfunctional, multi-payer system permeates the entire health care delivery system, and these employers are unable to function in an isolated delivery system that has not been damaged by the financing perversities." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Summary
Excerpt: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . . ., as amended, contains significant new requirements for employers and their health plans. This summary [charts the main provisions of PPACA.]" (Michael Best & Friedrich LLP)

Employer Reaction to Health Care Reform: Grandfathered Status (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "[The Hewitt] survey shows that almost three-quarters of respondents (73%) have already determined whether their group health plans will be grandfathered in 2011." (Hewitt Associates)

[Guidance Overview] Can Preexisting Condition Insurance Plans Help Employers Control Health Care Costs?
Excerpt: "An employer could be subject to sanctions if it offers financial incentives to enrolled individuals who end up in the [Preexisting Condition Insurance Plan]. Would the comparisons of eligibility periods and coverage costs be sufficient to constitute 'disincentives'? The PCIP rules do not appear to preclude the employer from steering new employees to the program. Any reasons why it should not?" (Tax Management Inc.)

[Opinion] National Association of Insurance Commissioners Defers the Worst Insurance Industry Demands for Weakening the Implementation of Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "'Today the NAIC took a step toward ending the health insurance companies' stranglehold on our health care. The top state insurance regulators from across the nation voted to put patient care above insurance company profits.'" (Consumer Watchdog)

[Opinion] U.S. Chamber Comments on Grandfathered Health Plan Status Regulations (PDF)
14 pages. Comments to DOL regard the Interim Final Rules for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Coverage Relating to Status as a Grandfathered Health Plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)

Small Businesses Wrestle with What Health Reform Will Mean for Them
Excerpt: "As a result of the federal health overhaul, businesses 'with under 50 full-time equivalent employees will be under no obligation to offer health insurance, but those with over 50 must offer it or pay a fine. This will require counting employee hours; 30 hours is considered full time by the federal government. . . . '" (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Federal Appeals Court Puts California Gay Marriages on Hold
Excerpt: "California's ban on same-sex marriages will remain in place until at least December, an appeals court ruled Monday . . . ." (Washington Post; free registration required)

Will Better Access to Health Care Change How Much Older Men Work?
Excerpt: "[E]ducated workers will be more likely to move into self-employment . . . ." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

[Guidance Overview] Employers Must Amend Cafeteria Plans by December 31 to Comply with Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "Any cafeteria plan that has allowed changes of election with respect to adult children in 2010 must be amended by Dec. 31 to conform to its operation." (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)

Filling in the Insurance Gap for Adult Children
Excerpt: "[M]any health plans limit coverage of college-age children for a variety of reasons, including age, whether they live at home and whether they are financially dependent. For families with those plans, the choices are more difficult. And the health care law has added wrinkles to an already complicated decision." (The New York Times; free registration required)

What Are the Provisions in the New Health Law for Containing Costs and How Effective Will They Be?
Excerpt: "Policymakers are trying a wide array of approaches in an attempt to control costs, including competition among health plans, taxes on high-cost plans, delivery system and payment reforms, wellness programs, and controls over Medicare provider payments." (Urban Institute)

[Guidance Overview] Being a Grandfathered Health Insurance Plan Brings Certain Advantages (PDF)
3 pages. (The National Law Journal via Proskauer Rose LLP)

How Will Reform Affect Health Care Costs?
Excerpt: "A series of brief reports . . . explores the effects that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . . . will likely have on consumers, state governments, the economy and health care costs. In the reports released [August 12th], Urban Institute researchers examine how cost controls in the legislation, new rules for allowing purchase of health insurance across state lines, and malpractice reform could affect the amount of money Americans spend on health care and insurance." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

[Opinion] Will Employers Undermine Health Care Reform by Dumping Sick Employees?
Excerpt: "This Essay argues that federal health care reform may induce employers to redesign their health plans to encourage employees who are likely to consume a greater-than-average amount of medical services to opt out of employer-provided coverage and instead acquire coverage on the individual market." (Social Science Research Network)

Health-Care Overhaul Nitty-Gritty: The Medical-Loss Ratio and Taxes
Excerpt: "[R]egulators are now wrestling with the medical-loss ratio -- what percentage of an insurer's revenue is dedicated to health-related expenses, versus administrative costs -- and into which bucket various kinds of costs should fall." (The Wall Street Journal)

Insurers Defend Limited-Benefit Health Policies in Fight Over Proposed Restrictions
Excerpt: " Insurers can seek a waiver from the government to keep their current limited plans if they can prove that offering better benefits would cause significant premium increases or force employers to drop or severely limit coverage." (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

State Health Care Reform Update as of August 12, 2010
Excerpt: "With the passage of federal health care reform, states will have increasing responsibilities in regard to employer-provided health insurance benefits." (Wolters Kluwer)

[Guidance Overview] New Simple Cafeteria Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The health care reform act, better known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 . . ., enacted a new form of cafeteria plan that is available to small employers starting in 2011." (Kushner & Company)

Health Care Reform's Impact on Rewards Strategies: Is It Time to Change the Mix of Compensation and Benefits? (PDF)
4 pages. (Buck Consultants)

DOL Helping Make Sense of Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "[Phyllis Borzi talks about how] new regulations will affect employees and employers. Here, in an edited version, are her comments (supplemented with information from her department's website, www.dol.gov/ebsa)." (San Francisco Chronicle)

[Guidance Overview] Agency Regulations on Preventive Care under the Affordable Care Act
Excerpt: "Plan sponsors that have lost their grandfathered status -- or that are contemplating plan design changes that might have that impact -- should work with their insurers and plan administrators to determine what additional services will have to be covered." (The Segal Group, Inc.)

Summary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Excerpt: "This summary is divided into five sections: Plan Changes; Employer and Insurer Administrative Requirements; Tax Incentives / Penalties for Employers, TPAs and Insurers; Exchanges and Co-Ops; Requirements, Taxes and Benefits for Individuals." (Michael Best & Friedrich LLP)

DOL Withdraws Proposed Rule on Definition of Welfare Benefit Plan
Excerpt: "In the announcement, EBSA states that the regulation was submitted to the OMB before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . . . was enacted, and was intended to address issues related to state health care efforts and their effect on the maintenance of ERISA-covered welfare plans." (Hewitt Associates)

[Opinion] Federal Government Does Not Have Right to Implement Universal Health Care, Says Virginia Attorney
Excerpt: "In response to CCH's question regarding whether or not various states that have filed suit against the federal government in an attempt to have the PPACA declared unconstitutional have a legitimate claim, Mr. Emord responded, 'The States have a case." (Wolters Kluwer)

Local Employer Pay-or-Play Laws: ERISA Preemption a Moot Issue?
Excerpt: "Following the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the sweeping changes it is making to the healthcare landscape, it appears the issue of whether existing non-Federal employer 'pay-or-play' healthcare mandates are preempted by ERISA has been put on hold." (Deloitte)

[Guidance Overview] DHHS Requests Comments on Establishment of State Health Insurance Exchanges
Excerpt: "[E]mployers may be interested in the design and operation of the Exchanges. Beyond the comments requested otherwise, the DHHS specifically asks employers to identify [design] features likely to be most important for employer participation in the Exchanges." (Deloitte)

How Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Affect Small, Medium, and Large Businesses?
Excerpt: "Larger firms are unlikely to experience significant changes in the coverage they provide but may face higher costs associated with increased take-up of the policies that they offer." (Urban Institute)

Missouri Voters Reject Federal Healthcare Coverage Mandate
Excerpt: "During party primaries yesterday, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition C, a measure designed to block the state's participation in the landmark health care law that President Obama signed earlier this year." (National Public Radio)

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