"Where possible within budgetary constraints, employers should prepare to offer at least one medical plan option to full-time employees in all regions with an employee-share of the premium not exceeding $103.28/month for employee-only coverage to simplify affordability compliance under the federal poverty line safe harbor."  MORE >>

"The latest round of frequently asked questions may be the strongest clarification to date of what is expected of plans and insurers. The agencies emphasize enforcement actions that could be taken for the failure to comply—including penalties that the agencies could impose. And state restrictions on contraception may be preempted by the preventive services provision, known as Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act."  MORE >>

"If an employer decides to adopt travel benefits for abortions in its group medical plan, travel costs should also be extended on the same terms for any other medical procedures, mental health or addiction care to avoid inadvertent violation of federal non-discrimination laws. The employer should not have access to any participant's health information for which the participant received benefits under the employer's group medical plan or another arrangement."  MORE >>

"Understanding the decisions your employees make allows you to design your benefits package with all the typical factors in mind like coverage, network and budget. It also allows you to consider how your benefits align with your organization's cultures and how you can make those benefits easier to communicate. Issues that confuse employees at open enrollment, like too many or too similar plan choices, will also dull the impact for potential hires."  MORE >>

"When it comes to benefits, your business is likely already offering some obvious ones. Healthcare. Dental. Vision. All of these things are important, to be sure, but in today's recruitment market, you may need to go above and beyond to recruit great employees to your company. The sky is the limit in terms of what you can help your employees within order to keep them around."  MORE >>

"[T]he movement shifts the concept of off-hours or urgent online visits to that of a virtual yet consistent care team that replaces the traditional in-office primary care relationship....Virtual primary care can treat more than people think.... Virtual primary care reduces unnecessary ER and urgent care visits -- and costs.... Virtual primary care doctors work with in-person providers, too."  MORE >>

"IRMAA is determined based on your income from two years earlier. In other words, for your 2022 Medicare premiums, your 2020 income tax return is used. The amount is recalculated annually.... Here are some reasons you might encounter it: Excessive Roth conversions in one year ... The death of a spouse ... Required minimum distributions (RMDs)."  MORE >>

"America's health care system seems, paradoxically, both endlessly innovative and profoundly dysfunctional.... Could Amazon's $3.9 billion acquisition be the breakthrough that will change all this?  ... We should never underestimate Amazon. But we also shouldn't underestimate the challenges it faces in working its usual magic in America's huge, troubled, tangled health care sector."  MORE >>

"Victims of a water shortage and health impact from unprecedented sargassum seagrass influx on the island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands beginning July 15, 2022, now have until November 15, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments[.]"  MORE >>