The Affordable Care Act was aimed mainly at giving people better options for buying health insurance on their own. There were widespread predictions that employers would leap at the chance to drop coverage and send workers to fend for themselves. Continue reading
The world is a dangerous, unpredictable place — not a bad thing, perhaps, if you’re in the business of selling insurance, making loans or figuring out ways to prevent mishaps. Continue reading
The House is considering H.R. 4723, a bill that would require all public exchange plan advance premium tax credit (APTC) users to pay any extra APTC subsidy money they get back to the government.
House Ways and Means members approved the bill by a vote of 22-15 last week.
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Some health insurers are hoping to ease headaches that can flare when customers try to confirm whether a doctor is covered in a plan’s network of providers.
The trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans will soon start testing a more efficient way to update insurer provider directories, which are becoming critical for finding the right fit as insurance evolves and coverage networks shrink. Continue reading
Short-acting opioid painkillers will carry strong new warnings under U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements announced on Tuesday that will bring information about addiction and abuse in line with that on long-acting pills.
The FDA’s action comes a week after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended doctors prescribe non-opioids, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen, for patients with pain unless they have active cancer or are receiving end-of-life care. Continue reading
WASHINGTON — There’s growing evidence that most of the dramatic gain in the number of Americans with health care coverage is due to President Barack Obama’s law, and not the gradual recovery of the nation’s economy.
That could pose a political risk for Republicans running against “Obamacare” in the GOP primaries as they shift to the general election later this year. While the health care law remains highly unpopular in the party, the prospect of taking away health care coverage from millions of people could trigger a backlash if the eventual GOP nominee’s plan to replace it is seen as coming up short. Continue reading
Good news for some employers dreading the reporting of Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) to their employees. The Department of Labor recently extended the deadline. The benefit summaries will not have to be distributed until the first day of the first plan year that begins on or after April 1, 2017. Continue reading
Employers will have plenty of time to comply with upcoming regulatory changes to the annual summary of health care benefits and coverages they must distribute to employees, according to a U.S. Department of Labor notice.
In a notice issued last week, the Labor Department said the new SBCs will not have to be distributed until the first day of the first plan year that begins on or after April 1, 2017.
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