Healthcare

On New Years Day, millions of Americans will awaken to a very unpleasant surprise. Hundreds of medicines and drugs they were able to purchase just the day before on a tax-free basis will no longer be available tax-free.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance to manufacturers and importers of branded prescription drugs on the annual fee imposed by the health care law.

Two efforts to repeal PPACA’s 1099 filing requirement failed in the U.S. Senate on Monday. Under that requirement, approximately 40 million businesses would have to file a Form 1099 for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.

To show the tangible value of telework, a group that works on telecommuting policies has announced the week of Feb. 14, 2011 as National Telework Week.

Finger Lakes Fire & Casualty, a policyholder owned company represented by about 120 independent agents, will now offer LifeStages identity protection services through Identity Theft 911, a leading provider of identity management and data-breach services.

Their respective names are synonymous with reaching new heights, which is exactly what Ascension Insurance, Inc. hopes to do in the employee benefits marketplace following its recent acquisition of Summit America Insurance.

Unum has unbundled the features of its individual disability insurance so that employers have more flexibility to select options for employees who are not fully protected by their group disability plans.

Proponents of mini-med plans were waiting to exhale until federal regulators showed a willingness to stave off the effect that a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would have on these voluntary benefits for employees seeking affordable, baseline health insurance coverage.

Federal officials should consider making intermediary entities providing services to health plans — such as benefits managers, third-party administrators and repricers — eligible for receiving a unique health plan identification number, according to recommendations recently sent to the Department of Health and Human Services.

If you haven’t taken the time to grab a cup of coffee with the folks at legal, or have lunch with your friends in accounting, now would be good. Over the next eight years, your company will need to examine — and implement where needed — a significant number of provisions associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.