Healthcare reform

Covered California’s Small Employer Health Options Program (SHOP) is growing, but a private-sector competitor to the state-run HIX is growing even faster.

Commentary: Countless conversations with brokers struggling with 6055 and 6056 concerns show many find their applicable large employer clients are challenged to find practical solution for this reporting, says EmployeeTech’s Michael Weiskirch.

The Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Options Program will not succeed without the broker community, the heads of three state-run exchanges said at a HIX policy conference.

Only 10% of some 480 employers in 36 industries responding to a recent poll have implemented an in-house or outsourced solution to comply with Affordable Care Act reporting requirements.

The head of a Senate investigative subcommittee said he plans to look into problems with the health insurance marketplaces set up for the Affordable Care Act that forced many taxpayers to owe some of the tax credit money they had received for buying health insurance.

A new $250,000 national advertising campaign running on several popular political TV programs casts the Affordable Care Act as a positive force that is saving lives. It also seeks to counteract continued threats of repeal or scaling back the landmark legislation.

It is “silly” for Republicans to put together a response to the Supreme Court’s expected June ruling on the legality of subsides in the federal health care exchange, the health policy director at the CATO Institute, which helped launch the lawsuit, said Monday.

Healthcare.gov runs the risk of offering too many health plan choices and the opportunity exists to be able to make it easier for consumers to compare coverage, the website’s CEO, Kevin Counihan, said Monday.

Most employers have still not determined how they will comply with complex ACA reporting requirements that began Jan. 1. Benefit brokers and consultants should be discussing the requirements and the solutions with their employer clients, experts say.

Commentary: Small employers that reimburse employees or pay directly for all or part of their health coverage have a short window to cease this practice, or they will be subject to an expensive excise tax.

The U.S. Congress adopted a budget that will allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and send a repeal or revision of President Barack Obama’s landmark 2010 health-care law to his desk.

Smaller companies and non-profits are among the organizations that are contemplating a switch in how they manage employee benefits.

Discussion about the ACA has moved from understanding it to implementing it, but employers and their advisers continue to meet challenges in doing so.

Democrats and Republicans support repealing the tax, which will affect a disproportionate number of Americans, and is likely to miss its revenue projections, experts say.

Assurant Health announced this week it will be sold or shut down by the end of 2016, a move the parent company attributes to million-dollar losses as a result of the ACA.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do better at ensuring that health insurance policy issuers and self-insured plan sponsors pay a fee required under the Affordable Care Act known as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research fee, according to a new government report.

The Affordable Care Act brings new administrative complexity to employers offering health plans, making real-time reporting even more critical.

Health insurance plans purchased through public health care exchanges often generate levels of member satisfaction higher than plans obtained through employers, according to a J.D. Power study.

Two-thirds of tax filers among H&R Block’s client base who received health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act via the state or federal insurance marketplaces had to pay back an average of $729 of the Advance Premium Tax Credit, cutting their potential refund by nearly one-third.

CMS says it will pay close attention to compliance with agent/broker standards during audits of qualified health plans offered in the FFM in 2015.