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Regardless of how the courts rule when they decide on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, known commonly as Obamacare, Ohio Attorney General David Yost has put the state on the right side of policy. That coverage is almost entirely underwritten by the U.S. government, with Ohio taxpayers carrying a modestly increasing proportion.
Read moreCommissions are not the reason health care costs are so high, representatives of two health insurance agents groups told InsuranceNewsNet.
Health benefits brokers would be subject to disclosure requirements as part of a sweeping health care bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.
The results of a study showed that a high percentage of workers are experiencing mental health issues in the workplace but are afraid to disclose them to their employers.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is leading the charge for Medicare for All on Capitol Hill, says it would require tax increases. Other candidates reject that notion. Sanders has pegged the cost of his Medicare-for-All plan at $30 trillion to $40 trillion over 10 years.
UnitedHealth Group reported second quarter 2019 results with continued well diversified strength in performance. “Our results in the quarter reflect strong and balanced performance from both Optum and UnitedHealthcare and are driven by the 320,000 women and men of UnitedHealth Group who focus every day on creating value for those we serve,” said David S….
House Democrats and Republicans are joining in a rare show of unity, voting overwhelmingly to repeal an unpopular tax on generous health insurance that’s a symbol of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. The “Cadillac tax” has never gone into effect, since lawmakers kept delaying it.
Successful consultants will tell you, a big part of their success hinges on the level of service they provide. Exceptional service can be the difference between missing your goals for the year and becoming a trusted advisor to your clients.
–Vanguard today issued its sixth annual How America Saves: Small business edition— a comprehensive assessment of plan design trends and participant savings behavior in small business 401 plans served by Vanguard Retirement Plan Access. The new research, a companion piece to the firm’s recently published How America Saves report on retirement savings in…
Jul. 17– Rates for people buying their own health insurance could drop dramatically in 2020– but only if the federal government green-lights a new program aimed at cutting those costs. That’s a far cry from the drumbeat of steep rate hikes that came to be expected as Capitol Hill wrestled over the Affordable Care Act. But before those savings can kick in, the federal…
Today, the Alliance for Aging Research announced the results of a survey that found over half of older adults over the age of 65 are willing to pay more each month in Medicare premiums to allow a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs. The Morning Consult survey, commissioned by the Alliance for Aging Research, was conducted online between June 26 to July 3,…
DALLAS — July 16, 2019 — Integrity Marketing Group, LLC (“Integrity”), the nation’s largest independent distributor of life and health…
Employers provide access to health care coverage to more than half of all Americans, but this coverage is threatened by the looming 40% “Cadillac Tax” on job-based health care. The House of Representatives plans to vote today on the bipartisan “Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019,” to fully repeal the tax.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay E. Town, issued the following news release:. PATRICK EMEKA IFEDIBA, 60, of Shelby County and Patrick Ifediba’s sister, NGOZI JUSTINA OZULIGBO, 49, of Trussville of numerous crimes stemming from their involvement with Care Complete Medical Clinic, located in Birmingham, Alabama, announced U.S. Attorney Jay…
Former Vice President Joe Biden is unveiling a health care plan that would add a “public option” to the 2010 health care overhaul known as “Obamacare,” with expanded coverage paid for by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Biden’s proposal has been outlined by advisers ahead of its Monday release.
The national health care law known as “Obamacare” is getting an aggressive defense from Joe Biden. The Democratic presidential candidate says he’s opposing anyone, Republican or Democrat, who wants to scrap the health care law. Instead, Biden says Obamacare should be the foundation for changes, including a government insurance plan known as the public option to existing exchanges that sell private insurance. Biden is set to discuss health care on Monday at a forum in Iowa.
Jul. 13– For the second consecutive year, health insurers in Connecticut are proposing rate increases for individuals that are rising faster than inflation, but more slowly than in the previous year, the state Insurance Department said Friday. A moratorium on the federally mandated health insurer tax in 2019 has been reinstated for 2020, accounting for about 3…
With steep competition for talent, it’s important to think outside the conventional benefits packages to help your workforce build retirement savings.
When President Obama conceived of the Affordable Care Act, he did everything he could to bring Republicans to his side. He created a system that was market-friendly and drew on ideas that members of the GOP had endorsed in the past. You might think that Republicans would move on and accept Obamacare.
A federal appeals court sympathized Tuesday with Republicans who say Obamacare’s “individual mandate” to hold insurance is no longer constitutional, though left unclear how much of the program should fall with it. The Democrats say Congress intended to leave the rest of the program intact when they made the change in a GOP tax bill, especially since coverage…
A new Colonial Life survey finds Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers can all agree on one thing:. Regardless of age, full-time U.S. employees turn to humans– and not the web– when they need benefits information during enrollment season, according to new research from Colonial Life. In a survey of 1,506 full-time U.S. employees, Colonial Life found just 11%…
Opponents and supporters of President Barack Obama’s health care law are taking their arguments to a federal appeals court in New Orleans. At issue Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal judge’s December ruling. The case will likely end up before the Supreme Court, which has reviewed the law once before.
Democrats highlighted the political peril Monday of an anti-Obamacare lawsuit that’s set for argument before a federal appeals court later this week, vowing to punish President Trump and anyone else backing the attempt to overturn the 2010 health law. The Democratic Attorneys General Association deployed print and digital ads against Republican…
Returning from their Fourth of July recess, the Senate and House are pushing to end surprise medical bills, curb high prices for medicines, and limit prescription copays for people with Medicare. Diana DeGette, D- Colo.“ It’ s about what kind of relief we can give to consumers.” She serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has a role in shaping the…
Jul. 7– In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the most significant retirement-savings bill in more than a decade. It’s called the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, or the SECURE Act of 2019.. –529 plans. 529 plans would be expanded to pay for expenses related to an apprenticeship or to pay back as much as $10,000 in student loans.
The more ballyhooed and ambitious offerings that lawmakers have been touting _ the single-payer Medicare for All model advanced by liberal Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the block-grant-based alternative to Obamacare pushed by some Republicans _ haven’t drawn any serious action. Instead, the House and a key Senate committee _ Health, Education,…
Jul. 3– Pennsylvania state leaders on Tuesday touted their plan to transition from the federal insurance exchange, healthcare.gov, to their own online marketplace as a move that will save money and improve access to affordable health insurance. Tom Wolf on Tuesday signed legislation establishing a state-based exchange where Pennsylvania residents who buy…
Is it possible to pluck one newsworthy moment from Wednesday night’s cacophonous 10- contestant Democratic quiz show? Moderator Lester Holt asked, “Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan? Warren was the sole candidate on stage who’s polling in double digits, crowding Bernie Sanders for second place behind Joe…
July 31 will be the last day for Insurance Navigation, a grant-funded program in which UR Medicine Thompson Health helped with affordable health insurance enrollment through the New York State Marketplace. On Aug. 1, the Community Service Society and Community Health Care Association of New York State will service Ontario and Wayne counties.
Charlie Baker, Senate President Karen Spilka, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo– agreed to a three-month delay of the required contributions under the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, “to ensure businesses have adequate time to implement” the program. That means when the law goes into effect Oct. 1, the contribution rate will increase to. 75% percent from. 63% of an…
–Genworth Financial, Inc. and China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. today announced they have agreed to an 11 th waiver and agreement of each party’s right to terminate the previously announced merger agreement beyond the current deadline of June 30, 2019. In conjunction with the extension, Genworth has received Oceanwide’s consent to solicit interest in…
Jun. 28– New Jersey lawmakers approved a bill Thursday to create a state-operated health insurance exchange for policies that would go into effect in 2021, making good on a priority of Gov. The Senate voted 24-12 to approve the bill. The bill’s passage came despite a feud between Murphy and his fellow Democrat, Senate President Stephen Sweeney.
Under the new rule for HRAs, employers can continue to offer traditional insurance plans or, instead, offer workers a flat, untaxed stipend to buy their own plans. Think of it like the difference between a defined-benefit retirement benefit (i.e., a pension) and a defined-contribution benefit (such as a 401(k) plan).
–HealthEquity, Inc., the nation’s largest independent health savings account non-bank custodian, and WageWorks, Inc.,, a leader in administering HSAs and complementary consumer-directed benefits, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HealthEquity will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common…
A federal appeals court has requested written arguments on whether the House of Representatives and various Democratic-leaning states can step in to appeal a ruling striking down President Barack Obama’s health care law. The question is significant because President Donald Trump’s administration isn’t defending the law.
9:30 p.m. The debate over how to handle private health insurance is emerging as a dividing line in the first 2020 Democratic debate.Only Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio raised their hands when asked if they would abolish private health insurance entirely in favor of a government-run plan.Warren went on to note…
Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett gave Angela Keith, 53, one year in prison, and Ann David Eldridge, 58, six months in prison. Their former company, the S.C. Early Autism Project, is one of the largest childhood autism providers in South Carolina. At the time of the illegal scheme, from about 2009 to 2016, the “culture and the climate of the Early Autism Project was such…
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on whether the federal government was wrong not to make certain payments to Land of Lincoln health insurance, which collapsed in 2016, leaving nearly 50,000 Illinois residents scrambling for coverage. Land of Lincoln sued the federal government in 2016 for more than $70 million of that money, saying it had relied on…
Administration officials say President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Monday that calls for hospitals to disclose upfront actual prices for common tests and procedures. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says it will give patients information that they can use to keep costs down. For example, if a hospital charges $3,500 for a type of echocardiogram and the same test might cost $550 in a doctor’s office, the patient might go for the lower price to save on copays.
The Supreme Court will decide whether insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. The justices say Monday that they will hear appeals from the insurers who argue that they are entitled to the money under a provision of the “Obamacare” health law.
Several years ago, I had a shoulder injury and the doctor told me I might need surgery to fix the small tear in my rotator cuff. He said that I was borderline whether to have the surgery or not. So I asked: “Doctor, if I have this surgery, about how much will it cost?”
Yet, during the first two years in office when his Republican Party controlled the House and Senate, Trump did not deliver. The New York Times reports that in the runup to the 2020 election the president wants to yet again take on the Democrats in debating health care. Republican leaders in Congress, however, would just as soon he leave it alone, fearing the debate…
Jun. 18– The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a petition seeking a statewide vote on expanding Medicaid. Amber England, a spokeswoman for Oklahomans Decide Healthcare, which is backing the petition said, “We’re just excited that the court agreed with us that it’s the time to let the people decide. Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public…
–In its fourth biennial study, Guardian Absence Management Activity Index SM and Study– “The Value of Leave Management Integration,” The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America ®, finds more companies than ever are prioritizing leave management. The study, released today, shows the proliferation of new and proposed state paid family and medical leave laws…
Results from Cigna’s landmark U.S. Loneliness Index were published yesterday in the American Journal of Health Promotion, as the company continues to advocate for a deeper understanding of the connectivity between physical health and emotional well-being. Cigna’s U.S. Loneliness Index, surveying more than 20,000 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older…
“Medicare for All” is at the confluence of currents running through our nation. Consciousness is rising that we might enjoy the automatic, universal and high-quality care that is taken for granted in many nations. U.S. life expectancy has been declining the past three years, for the first time since 1918..
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Trent Shores, issued the following news release:. Three physicians and five marketers have been charged in U.S. District Court with violations of the federal anti-kickback statute and other criminal offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. Krishna Balarma Parchuri, 44, of Tulsa, is charged in a…
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.
Unum Group today announced that Marylou Murphy, currently senior vice president and chief actuary for Unum, will become president of Closed Block Operations. She will succeed Steve Zabel in the role as he becomes executive vice president and chief financial officer on July 1. Marylou Murphy, president of Closed Block Operations for Unum Group.
The trade group for nonprofit health insurers in Minnesota says it supported the extension. “The law signals the importance of keeping Minnesota’s health care resources in nonprofit stewardship,” said Patsy Riley, interim president of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, in a statement. For decades, Minnesota law stipulated that only nonprofit groups could…
More than half of Americans have received a medical bill for something they believed would be covered by insurance, according to a 2018 survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan policy research institution. The State Corporation Commission, which regulates insurance companies in Virginia, last week…
Jun. 12– LANSING– Unlimited medical coverage isn’t going away for those who want it and its cost may drop beyond the 10% reduction Michigan’s new auto insurance law requires, says the executive director of the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association. For the first time since 1973, the law gives Michigan motorists choices about what level of health-related…
–Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the results of its latest Pension Funding Index, which analyzes the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans. In May, these pensions experienced a $65 billion decrease in funded status, a precipitous drop that resulted from poor investment returns and a decrease in the benchmark…
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Ariana Fajardo Orshan, issued the following news release:. A Georgia podiatrist was sentenced for his participation in a kickback scheme where he prescribed medication that was ultimately paid for by a federal program that provides low cost medication to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
–Data from the Q2 MetLife& U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index indicates employers are experiencing a boost in confidence about the state of the national economy and their financial future. The index overall score increased this quarter to 68.7, indicating nearly 69 percent of small business owners currently have a positive outlook about their…
Health Insurance Innovations on June 6 announced plans to acquire TogetherHealth of Coral Springs for $50 million plus 630,000 shares of Health Insurance Innovations’ common stock. The two lawsuits allege that Health Insurance Innovations Inc.– a publicly traded company– funded, oversaw and approved what the suits call the deceptive business model of…
Men will need assistance for an average of 2.2 years, while women will need it for 3.7 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging. More than one-third will spend time in a nursing home, where the median annual cost of a private room is now more than $100,000, according to insurer Genworth’s 2018 Cost of Care Survey.
The House recently approved the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act on a 417-3 vote. The lopsided approval reflected recognition of the fact that nearly half of U.S. households in which the primary wage earner is 55 or older had no retirement savings, according to a 2016 government report. But will the bill become law?
Washington, D.C. – Addressing the crisis of surprise medical bills that burden American families is a top priority for a…
RAGA Chairman and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading a 16- state coalition, made up of 14 Republican attorneys general and two Republican governors, that is supporting the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule allowing millions of Americans employed by small businesses to access quality, affordable health coverage via Association Health Plans.
For the second straight year, Colonial Life has been named the fastest-growing voluntary benefits company among large carriers by Eastbridge Consulting Group. Voluntary sales totaled $8.5 billion in 2018, according to Eastbridge’ s annual U.S. Voluntary/Worksite Sales Report. “Escalating healthcare costs are burdening U.S. employees like never before.
Men will need assistance for an average of 2.2 years, while women will need it for 3.7 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging. More than one-third will spend time in a nursing home, where the median annual cost of a private room is now over $100,000, according to insurer Genworth’s 2018 Cost of Care Survey.
The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, in early May gave a report to Congress regarding some of the consequences of a potential “Medicare for All” proposal. Currently, 160 million Americans are covered by employer-based private insurance, 44 million by Medicare, and 69 million are covered by Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance…
