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Posts Tagged ‘Health and Human Services’

New Final Regulations Expand the Availability of HRAs

Wednesday, 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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Governor Rauner, veto HB 2624

Tuesday, August 21st, 2018

American Thinker reports:

“Illinois HB 2624, introduced by Representative Laura Fine, limits the duration of short-term health insurance plans to 181 days.  The intent of HB 2624 is to ensure that healthier people do not enroll in the short-term health insurance plans that will be able to last up to 36 months without new underwriting under the new Health and Human Services guidelines, thus preserving the Illinois exchange.

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Fact Sheet: Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance Final Rule

Thursday, August 2nd, 2018

CMS.gov reports:

Background

The Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services published a proposed rule to consider allowing short-term, limited-duration insurance to cover longer periods and be renewed by the consumer on February 21, 2018 in response to both stakeholder input in the Request for Information “Reducing Regulatory Burdens Imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act & Improving Healthcare Choices to Empower Patients,” as well as Executive Order 13813 entitled “Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States.”

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A Rare Loss for U.S. Pharma Lobby Will Cost the Industry Billions

Monday, April 9th, 2018

Bloomberg reports:

“Deep in a budget deal Congress passed earlier this year — just 118 words in Section 53116, a little before passages on prison reporting data and payment yields for seed cotton — was a hit to pharmaceutical companies that will cost them billions, and could signal more losses to come.  (more…)

Trump administration releases association health plan rule

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

Axios reports:

“The Department of Health and Human Services has posted its long-awaited proposed rule to make it easier to form “association health plans,” aimed at groups of workers who team up to get better deals on health insurance. Among other things, the rule would encourage these kinds of plans by removing the requirement that says associations have to have a purpose besides health insurance.

The bottom line: The rule says its goal is to help small businesses buy health coverage more easily, but the bigger question is whether they’d pull healthy people out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges.”

Republicans now have a drop-dead date for replacing Obamacare

Tuesday, September 19th, 2017

Yahoo Finance reports:

“Republicans have only one month to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare through the process by which they tried and failed earlier this summer.

According to a Friday ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, the window to pass an Obamacare-repeal bill through the process known as budget reconciliation will close at the end of September.

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Trump Administration Sharply Cuts Spending on Health Law Enrollment

Tuesday, September 19th, 2017

The NY Times reports:

“The Trump administration is slashing spending on advertising and promotion for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, a move some critics charged was a blatant attempt to sabotage the law.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services, who insisted on not being identified during a conference call with reporters, said on Thursday that the advertising budget for the open enrollment period that starts in November would be cut to $10 million, compared with $100 million spent by the Obama administration last year, a drop of 90 percent. Additionally, grants to about 100 nonprofit groups, known as navigators, that help people enroll in health plans offered by the insurance marketplaces will be cut to a total of $36 million, from about $63 million.

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A new kind of doctor’s office charges a monthly fee and doesn’t take insurance — and it could be the future of medicine

Friday, March 24th, 2017

Yahoo Finance reports:

“Dr. Bryan Hill spent his career working as a pediatrician, teaching at a university, and working at a hospital. But in March 2016, he decided he no longer wanted a boss.

He took some time off, then one day he got a call asking if he’d be up for doing a house call for a woman whose son was sick. He agreed, and by the end of that visit, he realized he wanted to treat patients without dealing with any of the insurance requirements.

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Ready or not, it’s time to pick your best health plan

Monday, October 31st, 2016

The Chicago Tribune reports:

“With the annual sign-up period for plans on the health law’s marketplaces starting Nov. 1, many consumers are worried about rising premiums, shrinking provider networks and the departure of major insurers such as UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Humana from many exchanges.

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Illinois’ Obamacare plans seek big 2017 premium hikes

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016

The Chicago Tribune reports:

“Insurers want to crank up the cost of health insurance premiums by as much as 45 percent for Illinois residents who buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, the most popular insurer on the state’s Obamacare exchange, is proposing increases ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent in premiums for its individual health-care plans, according to proposed 2017 premiums that were made public Monday. The insurer blamed the sought-after hikes mainly on changes in the costs of medical services.

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