Law and regulation

Emails obtained by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce reveal that the Obama administration knew this summer that the federal SHOP exchange would likely not be ready for launch on Oct. 1.

At the crux of the issue are two constitutional distinctions: whether the “corporations are people” rights of for-profit companies extend to religious rights for the corporation, as opposed to just their owners, and what kind of accommodations for different views are required.

After struggling for two months to fix the federal online insurance exchange at the core of the law, Obama Tuesday began what aides say will be a three-week campaign to use his bully pulpit to regain momentum for his signature domestic initiative.

The Notre Dame case is among 86 lawsuits attacking ACA on religious grounds, sources say, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges.

Republicans said they primarily want to know at a hearing today about the lack of transparency ahead of the rocky Oct. 1 debut of the insurance exchange, which is supposed to let people compare and buy health plans.

The U.S. government stands poised for its first partial shutdown in 17 years at midnight tonight, after a weekend with no signs of negotiations or compromise from either the House or Senate to avert it.

The ruling sets up a split between federal appeals courts that makes it more likely the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually consider the dispute over the ACA requirement for for-profit firms.

If he were an employer, John Boehner would be sitting on his hands — and wallet — waiting for the picture to clear about the Affordable Care Act, said the speaker of the House Wednesday while speaking at a policy forum in Washington.

In Thursday’s U.S. Senate HELP Committee hearing, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) found something to agree upon during a normally polarizing debate surrounding the ACA: their insurance careers.

While there is much anticipation of the impending Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of PPACA, good plan sponsors already should be preparing for how they will respond to the health care reform decision. Here are some road-maps to prepare for the possible outcomes.

The intersection between religion and business is a heated one, with the most recent flare-up sparked by a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that mandates employers cover the cost of contraception in their health plans. Although the Obama administration exempted houses of worship from the rule, it still requires coverage be made available to employees of religiously affiliated organizations such as hospitals and universities.

Do you have an action plan for complying with the Wage Theft Protection Act by February 1? Read in today’s BeAdvised as EBA contributor Ken Moyle shares three areas New York employers must comply with under the WTPA.

New proposed rules for the "uniform summary of coverage" may change the way health insurers and group health plans provide consumers with clear, consistent and comparable information about their health plan benefits and coverage starting in 2012.

Data collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggest that average consumer rebates would have been more than 60% lower if agent and broker commissions were excluded from medical loss ratio calculations in 2010.

The much-anticipated report tackles several potential ways of compensating brokers and navigators in state health exchanges.

Advisers in other states are understandably concerned about Vermont's effort to create a single-payer health care system, but overreacting to Vermont doesn't help. Shaping how reform will look in your state will.

The American Medical Association on Monday reaffirmed its position that individuals should be responsible for buying health insurance, a contentious provision of U.S. health care reform.

Seven Republican presidential hopefuls knocked President Obama’s health care reform as a gross government intrusion, but sidestepped numerous chances to hit the party’s frontrunner, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, in a face-to-face encounter in New Hampshire.

Lawyers for President Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to stave off the biggest legal challenge yet to health care reform, his signature domestic policy achievement.

Lawyers for President Obama will on Wednesday seek to stave off the biggest legal challenge yet to health care reform, his signature domestic policy achievement.