Wednesday, January 22, 2014

ACA’s Insurance Company Bailouts

These are three (3) of the more than 18 new taxes, fees, and deduction changes that have been created/implemented in order to fund the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare. The later two (2) have not yet been imposed/collected, but the bell rings this year (2014) for their collection and remittance to Uncle Sam. This week I thought I would delve into the ear marking of some of this revenue, and what many are calling the ACA’s “insurance company bailout”.
The ACA contains three (3) separate and distinct “bailout programs” embedded within it’s 2,700 pages. They are the Reinsurance Program (temporary), Risk Adjustment Mechanism,

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

What’s Causing Health Care Spending to Slow?

Those of us in the health care industry (both delivery and financing) are pleasantly surprised, albeit cautiously optimistic, to learn that health care spending has slowed rather dramatically in recent years. In fact, for the first time ever, the percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) attributable to health care has decreased from 17.3% in 2011 to 17.2% in 2012 ($2.8 trillion). Fellow health care stakeholders may find it interesting that in 1960; health care consumed a mere 5% of our nation’s GDP. Put another way, in 2012 health care spending grew by 3.7%, which is virtually identical to the spending percentage growth in 2009, 2010, and 2011. By contrast, in 2002, health care spending grew by a whopping 9.7%.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

ACA Marketplace/Exchange Update

Happy New Year to all my friends, colleagues, and subscribers throughout the land! As you may have noticed, this blog went dormant over the holidays, which was as much a relief for my readers; I’m sure, as it was for me. So now here we are in 2014, and back to business, and weekly blog posts!
I thought I’d start the new year off with a brief update on what’s happening with the public health insurance marketplaces/exchanges. Last month involved a flurry of activity, guidance and extensions announced just prior to the holidays. Here’s the latest;

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

ACA Compliance Checkup (2014 Strategies Deployed)

As the 2014 open enrollment season comes to a close (bringing an overwhelming sense of relief and joy to HR professionals and Benefits Brokers/Consultants throughout the land!), I thought I’d review the major Affordable Care Act (ACA) related compliance issues addressed in preparation for the new (benefits) year.
1) Early plan renewal; 12/1/13: Since many of the ACA related changes affect plans & on their first plan anniversary date on or after January 1, 2014;, several health insurers offered (and many employers accepted) to change plan anniversary dates to 12/1/13.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

ACA’s Essential Health Benefits, Minimum Essential Coverage, & Minimum Value

Given the enormous complexity of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), its understandable that theres confusion about the terms used to describe 3 key provisions scheduled to take effect in 2014. They are: Essential Health Benefits (EHB), Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC), and Minimum Value (MV). Each of these provisions has an important impact on employers, employees, and individuals. This week's post defines these terms and describes their impact in 2014 and beyond.
Starting in 2014, all non-grandfathered, fully insured individual and small-group health plans (covering up to 50 people) offered

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Health Insurance and the Tax Code

For years, politicians, policy wonks, and various health insurance stakeholders have debated the merits of how the tax code encourages employer provided coverage, yet seemingly discourages the individual purchase of coverage outside of the workplace.
The primary example of this confounding situation is the fact that health insurance is tax deductible to an employer, yet not so to an individual who purchases coverage on their own, outside of the workplace. There are numerous tax incentives and benefits available to individuals who purchase health insurance, but virtually all of these incentives are attached to the purchase…

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

ACA’s Top 10 Misconceptions (Nos. 6 – 10)

Last weeks post revealed the first 5 of my “Top 10 List of ACA Misconceptions”. This week I finish out the Top 10 list with nos. 6 – 10. There's a tremendous amount of information pertaining to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that must be read, understood, translated, and communicated. I will continue informing and communicating as much as possible on this site; and I encourage readers to reach out to me with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Here are nos. 6 – 10 of my “Top 10 List”…
6. Insurance companies are cancelling certain health insurance policies that are not ACA compliant;

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

ACA’s Top 10 Misconceptions (Nos. 1 – 5)

Over the course of the last 3 years, I have had both the honor and pleasure of discussing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a number of organizations, clubs, groups, and even a local radio show. Throughout this time, I have encountered a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings relative to several provisions of the law. So I decided to assemble a list of…you guessed it…the top 10 most common ACA misconceptions that I have come across to date. Here are the first 5:
1. The public health insurance marketplace/exchange is the only place to purchase individual health insurance in 2014 that is subject to the various ACA provisions.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

***SPECIAL EDITION – Individual Plans May Offer Non-ACA Compliant Coverage in ’14!***

Earlier today (11/14/13) the President announced that he will “allow 2014 sales of previously cancelled Individual Health Plans that don’t meet Affordable Care Act (ACA) guidelines”. Administration officials clarified that the exception would only be available to those who have lost their [individual health] insurance coverage. The announcement was lacking many of the details that are necessary in order to move forward with this exception. Among the few details mentioned were that Insurers will…

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

FSA Rollover…An Early Christmas Present From the IRS!

When people hear or see the acronym IRS they generally do not associate it with gift giving. But that is precisely what the IRS delivered on October 31, 2013 in the form of Notice 2013-71, which allows for a partial carryover of unused FSA funds (click – http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-13-71.pdf). The often cited “use it or lose it” rule deters many otherwise eligible Flexible Spending Account (FSA) enrollees from setting aside funds on a pre-tax basis for future use. However, with the issuance of Notice 2013-71, the IRS is allowing the option of a rollover of up to $500 at the end of the FSA plan year, even for 2013 plan years! This is great news for FSA plan participants and employers alike.