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California Legislature Votes to Restore Tax on People Without Health Insurance

The California Legislature voted Monday to tax people 

who refuse to buy health insurance, bringing back a key part of former President Barack Obama’s health care law in the country’s most populous state after it was eliminated by Republicans in Congress.

The tax now heads to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who proposed a similar plan in January — an indication he will likely approve it.

California…

Trump Administration to No Longer Defend the ACA’s Individual Mandate

The announcement late last week by the Justice Department that they would no longer defend the ACA’s individual mandate or consumer protection provisions sent shockwaves throughout the healthcare industry and may have major implications for the law’s future. While Democratic-led states have stepped up to defend the law in the Trump Administration’s absence, the future of the ACA is once again…

Final Rule Issued on Association Health Plans

This afternoon the Trump Administration released a final rule regarding Association Health Plans as well as a fact sheet on the new rule. The rule was in response to an executive orderissued by President Trump on October 12 directing federal agencies to expand the availability of AHPs, short-term limited duration insurance policies and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. The proposal calls for a…

NAHU Press Statement on Graham-Cassidy Proposal 

NAHU has met with bipartisan leadership in the House and Senate, as well as other industry stakeholders, to promote bipartisan measures for market stability. Unfortunately, we do not believe the current Graham-Cassidy proposal serves to stabilize the individual health insurance market and we have significant concerns that the lack of adequate…

NAHU’s Washington Update

NAHU’s Washington Update is on hiatus this week. In lieu of our usual collection of articles and podcast, we are summarizing the most recent regulatory action affecting our industry.

  On Wednesday, February 15, the Trump Administration released its first significant health policy action, a proposed ruleintended to stabilize the individual and small group private health insurance markets for…

Views 9 questions for the Trumpcare architects

Views 9 questions for the Trumpcare architects By  Perry Braun

Excerpt:

“Addressing affordability As a new plan is presented for debate and discussion by the Trump administration — with the goal of building an affordable plan — here are my questions:

With respect to healthcare costs, there are two key drivers. One is consumption, which is defined as the number of medical services and prescription…

Memorandum: Interim Guidance Implementing Section 2 of the Executive Order of January 30, 2017, Titled “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs”

Shared from:  Business Insider By: Rebecca Harrington Executive Order, January 20: Declaring Trump’s intention to repeal the Affordable Care Act

One of Trump’s top campaign promises was to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.

His first official act in office was declaring his intention to do so. Congressional Republicans have been working to do just that since…

Trump Administration Submits Plan to Stabilize Marketplaces, Issues “Two-for-One” Executive Order

  Trump Administration Submits Plan to Stabilize Marketplaces, Issues “Two-for-One” Executive Order

On Wednesday, the Trump Administration submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget designed to help stabilize the ACA marketplaces. Details on the rule are not currently available as it has not yet been published, but it is expected to address a number of immediate fixes to…

Get Ready for Hillarycare, Part II

With Obamacare teetering, liberals eye opportunity for full government takeover of health care

Health insurance companies are bailing and co-ops are failing as Obamacare barrels down the road to collapse.

Health policy experts predict the Affordable Care Act will continue to muddle along for the next few years at least. But when the breaking point comes, experts warn the debate will center on…

A bit of Individual & Family plan [IFP] Reimbursement rates.

Question: When I contact a doctor to see if they take our insurance and tell them we have Blue Shield PPO, they say yes. Once I give them my subscriber number they say, “Oh, we don’t take Covered California plans.” Since my understanding is that all plans on exchange mirror those off exchange, I have asked the insurance company why certain doctors refuse. They said they can’t force doctors to…

What’s annoying employers most about the ACA now? by Christian Schappel

Recently, employers were asked which part of the ACA they most want to see changed. And in what’s likely to be a surprise to many, the No. 1 answer wasn’t the employer mandate. Although 70% of the 644 employers surveyed said they’d like to see the employer mandate repealed, it still wasn’t the highest vote-getter.

What was? Repealing the excise or “Cadillac” tax. All told, 86% of employers said…

Children Enrolled in Covered CA Medi-CAL Program MUST “Re-ENROLL”:

Children Enrolled in Covered CA Medi-CAL Program MUST “Re-ENROLL”:

During the week of February 15, DHCS sent a notice to existing Covered California consumers who have been deemed eligible for CCHIP.

Consumers should contact CCHIP to confirm their wish to either participate in the program or to opt for a Covered California plan without premium assistance.

The non-eligible (consumers over 19…

HHS Launches HIPAA Audit Program — Emery Benefit Solutions

OVERVIEW The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has launched the second phase of its HIPAA audit program, which focuses on compliance with HIPAA’s Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules. This second phase of the HIPAA audit program covers both covered entities and business associates. HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) […]

via HHS Launches HIPAA…

What CC clients need to know

Now that you have enrolled in an ACA Compliant Health plan Your Responsibility is not over: Please make sure that you follow the below steps “regularly” to insure you are not terminated:         1.  Check your accounts online frequently to insure the carriers have not made mistakes on your account and that all is running smoothly. [We have found that many Individual/Family plan (IFP) members…