(Bloomberg) — Oklahoma won a court ruling striking down tax rules tied to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, after a judge found they illegally punish states that didn’t establish health care exchanges. U.S. District Judge Ronald White in Muskogee, Okla., last month denied a government request to throw out the 2011 lawsuit, in […]
Author: michael
PPACA reshapes individual market
A new report finds the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandates stirred up significant market share changes among carriers offering individual plans, with lower-price plans seeing a surge in enrollment. Minneapolis-based analyst Allan Baumgarten released the study. Baumgarten looked at how the individual health insurance market grew after the first enrollment […]
IRS Drafts Instructions for ACA Reporting Requirements
They promised they would be coming and now they have. On Aug. 28, the Internal Revenue Service issued draft instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C and Forms 1094-B and 1095-B, which I provided in my July 31 entry. These forms were provided in draft format and they are used to satisfy Affordable Care Act’s “information […]
Public perception of PPACA plummets
The downward spiral of public opinion surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Car Act continues since its July peak, just as midterm elections creep closer. The latest Health Tracking Poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds many more people pessimistic about the law, with 47 percent viewing it unfavorably vs. 35 percent supporting it. Among […]
IRS Gears Up for Impact of Health Care Reform on Tax Season
Internal Revenue Service commissioner John Koskinen told a congressional subcommittee about the IRS’s progress on the Affordable Care Act and the impact that tax subsidies will have next tax season. In a hearing before the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, Koskinen talked about how the IRS would be processing the premium tax […]
3 ways to control the absence menace
Injury used to represent the bulk of employee absence managed by companies. Of course, injury leave is still important. But in recent years, the Family and Medical Leave Act, state and even local laws have made leave the most pressing, complex — and possibly litigious — type of absence in the workplace. The cost of […]
6 biggest employer struggles
The emerging workforce continues to puzzle traditional managers, particularly those used to a once-size-fits-all approach to managing people. Now, Workforce 2020, a major study from Oxford Economics, in conjunction with SAP, has identified six major issues that businesses are struggling with. Oxford surveyed more than 5,000 employees worldwide and conducted a series of in-depth interviews […]
Platinum plans best for specialty drug consumers
Though considered the most expensive of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act metal health coverage plans, platinum plans for certain consumers may be the most economical option. When it comes to covering the cost of specialty drugs, platinum plans offer the lowest out-of-pocket cost to the consumer, according to a HealthPocket study of public […]
Millions lack paid sick days
Nearly half of all workers in California don’t get a single paid sick day from their employers. Additionally, this state of affairs is far worse for some classes of employees than others. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that, among the overall 44 percent of California adult workers who don’t get a paid sick […]
5 ways to avoid ADA leave traps
Disability benefits producers who market absence management services are discovering a frightening truth: As complicated as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and other state and federal leave laws are, understanding them is just one step on an ankle-twisting path. In addition to tripping up employers all on their own, leave laws interact with […]