The Trump administration has decided against reopening Obamacare enrollment to uninsured Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, defying calls from health insurers and Democrats to create a special sign-up window amid the health crisis. President Donald Trump and administration officials recently said they were considering relaunching HealthCare.gov, the federal enrollment site, and insurers said they privately […]
On March 20, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Treasury and Department of Labor announced that employers with less than 500 employees will be able to take advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits which were created to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing COVID-19 leave to their […]
Agreement will increase patient access while emphasizing clinical quality and value. Northwestern Medicine (NM) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) are offering consumers expanded access to affordable, high-quality primary and specialty care close to where they live and work. The health system and insurer announced today that BCBSIL members will have access […]
Many of the short-term health insurance plans being promoted by the Trump administration spent a relatively small fraction of the premiums they collected last year on patients’ medical claims. Modern Healthcare reports that the five health insurers that collected the most in 2018 premiums from short-term insurance policies spent just 39.2% of every dollar on […]
The Trump administration is expanding options for employers to use special accounts to help workers buy their own health insurance, upgrade job-based coverage, or choose low-cost plans with limited benefits, officials said Thursday. The tax-free individual accounts are called “health reimbursement arrangements,” or HRAs, and starting next year employees will be able to use them […]
UnitedHealthcare members may be smiling a little brighter. That’s because the insurer is teaming up with SmileDirectClub to offer a new benefit to help employees improve their oral health. The companies are now offering more than 1.5 million UnitedHealthcare dental plan participants with orthodontic coverage the ability to purchase clear aligners via SmileDirectClub’s teledentistry and […]
(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is hardening its legal position toward Obamacare, arguing now the entire law is unconstitutional in a shift that promises to bring the issue to the forefront of the 2020 election campaign. The position is a change for the Justice Department after it argued last year that large parts of the […]
KEY POINTS Amazon will now accept consumers’ health savings and flexible savings accounts. That allows people to contribute a portion of their salary or wages, before taxes, to cover medical expenses that would otherwise be out-of-pocket. Health experts think this is an important step for Amazon as it gets deeper into the health care market. […]
Effective immediately, the 2018 Health Savings Account (HSA) annual contribution limit has been reduced to $6,850 for family coverage (employee plus one). The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) initially set the limit at $6,900. There is no change to the annual contribution limit for single coverage. Employees with family coverage who planned to contribute, or have already […]
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. vs. Windsor to strike down DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) frees employers from a number of financial and administrative burdens, but it raises other issues for employers on how to navigate the patchwork of state laws regarding same-sex couples. The high court struck down Section 3 of […]