Affordable Care Act

Posted October 11th, 2016 in Producers, Employers
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:
 
  1. 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.  
 
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 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.
 
Posted June 15th, 2016 in Producers, Employers
In part one and part two of this series, we examined how employees are increasingly responsible for their own healthcare costs and have adjusted their expectations accordingly. We conclude this series with an important announcement:
 
Posted June 1st, 2016 in Producers, Employers
In the first part of this series, we discussed how everyone from insurance companies to employers has been affected by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but no group more so than employees - the true healthcare consumer.
 
Posted May 23rd, 2016 in Producers, Employers
As required under the ACA, the federal government must conduct audits of Marketplace coverage to ensure that only people who are truly eligible are receiving a subsidized plan.
 
Effective Spring 2016, CMS launched an "Employer Initiatives" Program to aid in the auditing process. As part of this program, CMS may contact an employer to request whether or not one or more employees were enrolled in minimum essential coverage, or whether or not they were offered a health plan which was affordable and had minimum value. 
 
Posted May 18th, 2016 in Producers, Employers
Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect, Flex has been following closely as the market transitions further away from traditional healthcare concepts. The following is the first piece in a three-part series that addresses key industry issues, trends and solutions related to Consumer-Driven Accounts (CDAs).
 
Posted April 25th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The President of the United States can have a significant impact on the shape and direction of health care, as has been seen with President Obama and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The American people will cast their vote for the next President of the United States on November 8, 2016. The future of the health care industry will largely be influenced by the outcome of the election. Here is a very high level summary on how the presidential candidates have suggested they would change the health care industry:
 
Donald Trump
    Posted March 24th, 2016 in Producers, Employers
    Whether it be the ACA, COBRA, ERISA, HIPAA, Section 125, or another regulation, employers can find themselves out of compliance somehow, and they may not even be aware. Here is a list of some common areas of non-compliance, not ranked in any particular order.
     

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