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The Future Of Insurance: Fintech 50 2020

February 14th, 2020

Forbes.com reports:

“We made insurance its own category on this year’s Fintech 50 list. Why? It’s hot. Global funding for insurtech companies jumped from $4.4 billion (410 deals) in 2018 to $6.8 billion (476 deals) last year, according to Accenture. There are full-blown digital carriers and next generation virtual brokers. The aim is to close policies online, not by talking to a human agent at a call center.

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New Tool To Determine HRA Affordability

October 29th, 2019

Starting on January 1, 2020, employers will be able to help their employees pay for qualified medical costs–such as premiums for an Individual Marketplace plan–through a new individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA). An ICHRA is an alternative to a traditional group plan that allows employees to select their own plan on the individual market.

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9 Health Insurance Acronyms Small Business Owners Should Know

August 21st, 2019

Small Business Trends reports:

“Many health insurance acronyms float around these days. In the past, people counted on essentially two health care options. They included traditional group health insurance and, for seniors, Medicare. Today, you’ll find a number of health care options. Some of which specifically limit themselves to small businesses. The array of options may confuse you because of the many names used to describe them.

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13 Employee Benefits You Should Consider Offering

July 24th, 2019

The Libertarian Replublic reports:

“It can be a real challenge for a small business to keep employees interested in sticking around for the long haul. Larger companies always seem to have the upper hand, especially when it comes to offering enticing employee benefits. For a small business to remain competitive, you have to be sure that the employee package is enticing enough to keep them interested.

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New Final Regulations Expand the Availability of HRAs

July 24th, 2019

JD Supra reports:

“On June 13, 2019, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Treasury (the “Departments”), published final regulations which significantly broaden the types of health plans that may be integrated with a health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”). More specifically, beginning January 2020, the finalized rules allow HRAs to be integrated with certain qualifying individual health plan coverage and/or Medicare.  The final rules reverse current guidance which requires HRAs to be integrated with only qualifying group health plan coverage. Practically speaking, this means that employers, beginning in 2020, will be allowed to subsidize employee premiums in the individual health insurance market and/or Medicare using pre-tax dollars, provided certain conditions are met. The final rules also allow certain HRAs to reimburse participants for certain premiums paid for excepted benefits. To achieve these results, the final rules create two new types of HRAs.

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Explaining Texas v. U.S.: A Guide to the 5th Circuit Appeal in the Case Challenging the ACA

July 24th, 2019

KFF.org reports:

“On July 9, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit will hear oral argument in Texas v. U.S., the next round of litigation challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The appeals court is reviewing a federal trial court’s decision that the ACA’s minimum essential coverage provision (known as the individual mandate) is unconstitutional and, as a result, requires the entire ACA to be overturned. The individual mandate provides that most people must maintain a minimum level of health insurance coverage; those who do not do so must pay a financial penalty (known as the shared responsibility payment) to the IRS. The individual mandate was upheld as a constitutional exercise of Congress’ taxing power by a five member majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius in 2012.

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Why You Still Absolutely Need Health Insurance Despite the Death of the Penalty

May 20th, 2019

Yahoo Finance reports:

“Starting in 2019, you’ll no longer owe a fine to the IRS if you don’t have qualifying health insurance coverage. While the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, imposed a tax penalty for those who opted out of coverage, the mandate was eliminated with the tax reform law passed in late 2017.

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‘Sham’ Sharing Ministries Test Faith Of Patients And Insurance Regulators

May 20th, 2019

KHN reports:

“Sheri Lewis, 59, of Seattle, needed a hip transplant. Bradley Fuller, 63, of nearby Kirkland, needed chemotherapy and radiation when the pain in his jaw turned out to be throat cancer. And Kim Bruzas, 55, of Waitsburg, hundreds of miles away, needed emergency care to stop sudden —and severe — rectal bleeding.

Each of these Washington state residents required medical treatment during the past few years, and each thought they had purchased health insurance through an online site.

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