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.
Posts Tagged ‘Marketplace’
New Tool To Determine HRA Affordability
Tuesday, October 29th, 20199 Health Insurance Acronyms Small Business Owners Should Know
Wednesday, August 21st, 2019Small 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.
New Final Regulations Expand the Availability of HRAs
Wednesday, July 24th, 2019“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.
Why You Still Absolutely Need Health Insurance Despite the Death of the Penalty
Monday, May 20th, 2019“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.
Most Americans want lower health care costs, not ‘Medicare for All’ or Obamacare repeal
Monday, May 20th, 2019“Washington may be obsessed with enacting “Medicare for All” or repealing Obamacare, but Americans have other priorities.
They want Congress to prioritize reducing health care costs and protecting those with pre-existing conditions, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday.
What is Trump’s New Short-Term Health Insurance Order?
Tuesday, May 8th, 2018“On February 20, 2018, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and the Treasury released a proposed rule that would increase the length of coverage for short-term health insurance plans from three months to 364 days. They proposed this rule in response to an executive order President Trump issued in October 2017 telling these departments to propose regulations or guidance that would make this type of insurance more available in order to encourage consumer choice and provider competition in the health insurance market.
Scammers Are Using New Medicare Cards to Try to Trick Seniors
Thursday, April 5th, 2018“If you’re a senior on Medicare, new cards are coming soon. New cards will be mailed out between April 2018 and April 2019, and these new cards will no longer have your Social Security number on them.
ACA Marketplace Plan Issues Threaten Consumers’ Financial Well-Being
Thursday, February 1st, 2018“If you bought health insurance during the Affordable Care Act open enrollment, congratulations. Your major health care needs, known and unknown, should be covered without risk of financial ruin. You may feel you are set until the next open enrollment. But you might actually have more work to do to make sure you are truly protected.
Amazon, JPMorgan, Berkshire create new company to tackle health care costs
Thursday, February 1st, 2018Three of corporate America’s heaviest hitters — Amazon, Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase — sent a shudder through the health industry Tuesday when they announced plans to jointly create a company to provide their employees with high-quality, affordable care.
The announcement was short on details about precisely what the independent company will do. But given the three players’ outsize influence — and Amazon’s ability to transform just about everything it touches — the alliance has the potential to shake up how Americans shop for health care, and the stocks of insurance companies, drug distributors and others slumped in reaction.
Blue Cross warns GOP repeal bill ‘undermines’ pre-existing condition rules
Wednesday, October 11th, 2017“The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association warned against a new GOP ObamaCare bill on Wednesday, saying it would “undermine” protections for pre-existing conditions.
“The bill contains provisions that would allow states to waive key consumer protections, as well as undermine safeguards for those with pre-existing medical conditions,” the association said in a statement.
