By Callan Carter (San Francisco) The effect of the recent healthcare legislation is beginning to be felt. Several changes (including pool coverage for high-risk people, extension of tax-dependent status of children to age 26, and a 10% excise tax on tanning salon services) have already...
Source: Warner Norcross & Judd LLP [via BenefitsLink] 01-Nov-2010 Norbert F. Kugele Just a reminder that the deadline is Nov. 15, 2010 to distribute the annual Notice of Creditable Coverage required under Medicare Part D. The notice informs participants whether the prescription drug coverage offered under your health...
House Republicans plan a vote early in 2011 to repeal the health-care law...
ERISA Source: PLANSPONSOR By Judy Ward For the first time in a generation, the Labor Department has taken another crack at the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The proposed rule was unveiled today by the Department of Labor (DoL), which noted...
Health Source: USA Today [via BenefitsLink] By Marry Brophy Marcus The future of diabetes in America looks bleak, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report out today, with cases projected to double, even triple, by 2050. "There are some positive reasons why we see prevalence going...
Compliance Source: McKay Hochman [via BenefitsLink] The in-plan Roth conversion provision of the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act (H.R. 5297) became effective on September 27, 2010. The absence of IRS guidance leaves us with many questions regarding how to implement, administer and report such conversions. As we stated...
NAIC unveils medical loss ratio rules under health reforms Health Care Reform Source: Business Insurance 21-Oct-2010 By Joanne Wojcik WASHINGTON—The National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners adopted a model regulation Thursday that includes definitions of which medical expenses can be counted toward insurers’ medical loss ratios under the Patient Protection and...
Source: PLANSPONSOR 20-Oct-2010 By Rebecca Moore Eighty-five percent of employers in a recent survey report that their organization offers tuition assistance to their employees, compared with 52 percent that said so in late 2007. However, according to the survey of tuition assistance plan practices by BLR, this increase in...
By Mary Agnes Carey KHN Staff Writer OCT 13, 2010 Health insurers can't have different rules for when individual policies are sold for children with medical problems than for healthy kids, the Department of Health and Human Services said today. Some insurers want to allow healthy children to enroll...
More than six months have passed since President Barack Obama signed the health care reform bill into law. A number of provisions are now in effect, and federal agencies are working to clarify lingering questions in the legislation. One aspect that could have a significant impact...