The century old state workers’ compensation system is outdated, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The system needs to be reset and reshaped to address the needs of today’s employees, according to David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Stakeholders, including workers, employers, insurance carriers, unions and government agencies will all need to take part in the conversation. Continue reading
Buying health insurance for the first time can be a daunting task. The good news is that there is more financial assistance for health care coverage than ever before, and you can’t be denied coverage. The answers to some frequently asked questions can help you understand the real costs of a health care plan and choose a policy that suits your needs. Continue reading
Among all the safety problems an employee can encounter, fire can be the most frightening. Every year office fires cause millions of dollars in damage and result in hundreds of employee injuries. Yet many employees do not realize how their own actions can contribute to the risk of fire. Continue reading
WASHINGTON — Cara Suzannah Latil is living proof that the Affordable Care Act works — but also of why a central piece of the law is in turmoil.
Ms. Latil, 49, who works at a homeless shelter in Santa Fe, N.M., is one of millions of Americans who once found it difficult or impossible to get health insurance because they already had serious illnesses. Hepatitis C was ravaging her liver when she learned in 2014 that she also had breast cancer. Through the health care law, she was able to buy subsidized insurance that paid for all but $800 of her cancer surgery and radiation, she said, as well as tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of medications that cured her hepatitis. Continue reading
The required notices may be provided in several ways. Employers can provide them with their annual enrollment materials, mailings or electronically (with the employee’s permission). Employers can use the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) model notices or other notices that meet prescribed standards; however, the notices are required to be distributed no later than Oct. 14, 2016. Continue reading
It is a good deal for those people. But these seemingly generous coupons may be making drug costs higher for everyone. New research suggests that co-payment coupons can actually increase total health care spending by encouraging patients to choose more expensive drugs when there are lower-priced substitutes available. Those high costs can then boomerang back to patients in the form of higher insurance premiums.
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The federal government will choose health plans for hundreds of thousands of consumers whose insurers have left the Affordable Care Act marketplace unless those people opt out of the law’s exchanges or select plans on their own, under a new policy to make sure consumers maintain coverage in 2017.
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By: Jonah Engel Bromwich, NY Times, October 2016
After holding his newborn son for … Continue reading
