Law and regulation

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.

U.S. health insurers will have to justify big premium rate hikes under new rules issued by the U.S. Health and Human Service Department last week.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the establishment of health care exchanges to enable individuals to purchase health insurance on the open market is proceeding as scheduled.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) to expedite review of Virginia’s lawsuit challenging PPACA’s individual mandate.

The U.S. Supreme Court took no action Monday on a request to speed up a ruling on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will pump up to $1 billion, funded under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into a new program to dramatically increase patient safety within two years.

Missouri's Democratic attorney general on Monday joined the largely Republican-led effort to have President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul ruled unconstitutional.

As you might have guessed from my previous posts, I’m more or less in favor of the health care reform mandates, but there are still individual rules I’m concerned about, and some I’m definitely confused about. This post focuses on one such confusing rule--the requirement for payers to use 85% member premiums toward the MLR (Medical Loss Ratio). Simply, payers must spend at least 85% of the amount they collect toward the cost of care.

Two potentially significant issues that were immediately identified by employers about W-2 Form reporting under the health law were how small employers and retiree health care plans would be impacted.

Several members of Congress from both political parties expressed support for the role of the agent and broker post-health care reform to a crowd of more than 700 at February's National Association of Health Underwriters annual Capitol Conference in Washington, D.C. - including calls for the medical loss ratio provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be altered.

A March 17th hearing on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act had more of a July 4th sensibility, with fireworks igniting before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.