Law and regulation

Having recently allowed recreational marijuana in the District of Columbia, D.C.'s council has also passed a new temporary law that would effectively ban employers from drug testing a prospective employee before a conditional offer of employment is made.

Tax reform, particularly corporate tax reform, will be on the agenda in 2015, congressional observers said.

Adjustments include how termination, active participant and multiple-employer plan information is reported.

Starting in 2015, employer reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act will take effect. But are HR and benefit departments up to the task? Here’s a health regulation primer for all employers to review.

With visions of the ACA's Cadillac tax on the 2018 horizon, major employers are already making arrangements to soften the blow and help deal with potential surcharges on employer-sponsored benefits - and working with their unions to control health plan costs.

They promised they would be coming and now they have. The Internal Revenue Service has issued draft instructions to help employers and plan sponsors comply with the Affordable Care Act’s 2015 reporting requirements.

The Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility requires large employers to offer group health plan coverage or face the prospect of having to pay money to the government. As a result, more and more employers are considering these strategies to help reduce or eliminate their exposure to penalties.

The Internal Revenue Service recently released draft versions of the forms that will be used to meet the shared responsibility reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act. They are designed to notify the government about whether individuals and employers are meeting their obligations concerning health coverage.

The White House this week breathed a sigh of relief – and conservatives simply sighed – when hours after a D.C. federal appeals court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service exceeded its authority in providing tax credit subsidies in 34 states, another federal appellate court ruled the opposite.

The immediate take-away for employers in the Halbig v. Burwell ruling is uncertainty about what the future brings for the Affordable Care Act. If the Halbig majority prevails, Obamacare has been dealt a serious, if not lethal, blow.

Over the last year, “skinny plans” have gained some acceptance among employers under the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act. And while a skinny plan might be limited to preventative services only, the skinny plans appearing in the marketplace generally include a handful of other features.

Wellness programs have long been subject to myriad federal and state laws. Primary among these are laws involving discrimination rules. Wellness programs are required to satisfy certain criteria in order to be considered non-discriminatory under the Affordable Care Act.

House Republicans’ attempts to stay the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate continued yesterday as they argued for a contentious bill that would delay implementation of penalties for failing to comply with the health insurance mandate.

The federal government recovered a record $4.3 billion during the past fiscal year from people and companies that attempted to defraud health care programs, according to two U.S. agencies.

Commentary: Arkansas failed on Feb. 19 to renew the state's expansion of Medicaid and blogger Cyndy Nayer says this will lead to a series of problems for the state.

Being arrested in Chicago for, say, drug possession or assault gets you sent to the Cook County Jail to be fingerprinted, photographed and X-rayed. You’ll also get help applying for health insurance.

The Internal Revenue Service recently drafted ACA regulations that offer some insight into what will be the associated monetary penalties for individuals who do not take up health care coverage. IRS officials laid out guidelines for what will be deemed as “minimum essential coverage” under the ACA. Officials also offered a breakdown of fines.

To hear it from Vice President Joe Biden, the fight over the Affordable Care Act may be far from over – but he’s certainly interested in recognizing the troops who helped build support for the landmark legislation.

A perspective from bswift's employees on this possible new trend.

Former Microsoft Corp. executive Kurt DelBene was named to replace Jeffrey Zients as the manager of the U.S. health insurance enrollment system, as Zients prepares to take over as White House chief economic adviser.