Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter

December 27, 2019

BenefitsLink.com logo
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com logo
Search   ·   Past Issues   ·   Get Message Boards Digest   ·   Get Retirement News

Job Openings


Webcasts, Conferences


Discussions

New Topics on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

New Comments and Topics

All Topics, Grouped by Forum


This Newsletter:
Subscribe Now

BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Subscribe Now

Message Boards Digest:
Subscribe Now


[Official Guidance]

Text of HHS Final Regs: ACA Exchange Program Integrity

"This final rule revises standards relating to oversight of Exchanges established by states and periodic data matching frequency. This final rule also includes new requirements for certain issuers related to the collection of a separate payment for the portion of a plan's premium attributable to coverage for certain abortion services."

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]

[Guidance Overview]

Price Transparency: Agencies Issue Final Rule for Hospitals and Proposed Rule for Group Health Plans and Health Insurers

"While several states already have price transparency mandates in place, hospitals -- and soon, plans -- will be required to ensure their disclosures are consistent with the new federal requirements.... The Proposed Rule solicits comments on: [1] Whether group health plans and health insurance issuers should be required to make available through a standards-based application programming interface the cost-sharing information. [2] How health care quality information can be incorporated into the price transparency proposals."

Foley & Lardner LLP

The Employer's Guide: Using Primary Care to Curb Rising Care Costs

"[U]se of Emergency Department facilities as a primary care point of access ... is one of the major reasons for the exceptionally high cost of care. For self-insured companies and large employer-sponsored populations, employers would benefit from a deeper understanding of their utilization data to inform strategies to decrease the costs related to high or inappropriate utilization of resources.... Rewarding primary care for managing a chronic disease ... compared to rewarding specialty care that may be unwarranted could be a start."

MedCity News

Latest Court Ruling on ACA Has No Immediate Impact on Health Plans

"Plan sponsors are not required to take any action at this time. The case will likely continue to work its way through the courts for some time. Although the appellate court sent the case back to the lower court for a more searching inquiry into which provisions of the law survive the invalidation of the mandate, the ruling on the mandate may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court before that happens." [Texas v. U.S., No. 19-10011 (5th Cir. Dec. 18, 2019)]

Segal Consulting

Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146

Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

Article submission: Online form

BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2019 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.

Links to web sites other than BenefitsLink.com and EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com are offered as a service to our readers; we were not involved in their production and are not responsible for their content.

Unsubscribe  |   Change Email Address  |   Privacy Policy