The Chartwell Chronicles: An Overview of New Jersey Workers' Compensation
Midyear Premium Increases and Cafeteria Plan Rules
The D&O Renewal Market: Will the Wild Ride of Premium Increases, Stretched Capacity and Restrictive Terms Continue?
Health Reimbursement Arrangement Update
Podcast: Health Reimbursement Arrangements
Is Private/Non-Profit D&O Coverage Under Priced?
Does the Affordable Care Act really make health insurance more affordable?
On August 8, a coalition of 15 state attorneys general sued CMS in the North Dakota federal court seeking to overturn a May 2024 CMS final rule making Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients eligible for...more
On June 27, the D.C. District Court struck down CMS’ 2020 approval of a 10-year renewal for the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0 Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration (Rose v. Becerra). In addition to the atypical 10-year...more
The Biden administration gave its stamp of approval last week to Colorado’s novel waiver under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to require premium reductions in a public option program, a first-of-its-kind plan...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for the 2023 Proposed Rule on Wednesday, January 5th 2022. ...more
Office of Health Strategy (OHS) Roadmap for Strengthening and Sustaining Primary Care, Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS). Draft of as November 2021. In collaboration with the state Department of Social Services...more
Last week, the US Supreme Court blocked the OSHA standard requiring private employers with 100 employees or more to vaccinate-or-test for COVID-19 from taking effect (more info here). With the fate of that standard likely...more
Since I began writing this year-end review in 2013, there have been some common themes – a shift to pay for quality and away from fee-for service, much of which has been brought about by the Affordable Care Act (ACA): efforts...more
Minnesota’s Governor and legislators propose financial assistance options for on- and off-Marketplace individual coverage; Vermont receives final federal approval for the country’s first all-payer ACO model; and a report...more
Regardless of the 2016 general election outcome, a new administration will have to respond to pressing policy issues that will shape continued transformation of the U.S. healthcare system. What are the issues and where do...more
HealthCare.gov consumers begin previewing 2017 coverage options as HHS projects a 9% enrollment increase over last year and an average 22% benchmark premium increase; Oregon study finds increased primary care spending in...more
At the NAIC Summer 2016 National Meeting, the Long-Term Care Innovation (B) Subgroup held a public hearing as part of an initiative to address the challenges facing the private LTC market. With baby boomers retiring at a rate...more
HHS announces average premium price increases of 7.5% across HealthCare.gov; Michigan and Illinois launch the country’s first joint cloud-based, real-time Medicaid information management system; and the Marketplace carrier...more
CMS permits states to use income information from other means-tested benefit programs for Medicaid eligibility determinations; Alaska’s Medicaid expansion is given the green light to launch today; and Washington State submits...more
Last month, two federal courts of appeals issued opposing decisions on whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) permitted subsidies, in the form of premium tax credits, to health coverage bought...more
In April, the IRS released the 2015 inflation adjustments for Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and HSA-qualified high deductible health plans (HDHPs). A month earlier, HHS released details on the “premium adjustment percentage,”...more
As previously reported on November 13, 2013 and February 20, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") has attempted to provide guidance as to when it is appropriate for issuers of "qualified health plans"...more
The House and Senate were both on recess this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. suspended the operations of Syria’s U.S. embassy and consulates as the Syrian civil war enters its fourth year. Also Tuesday, details of an NSA...more
With most Massachusetts health insurance plans, provided he/she has not yet remarried, an employee with at least one dependent child can add a former spouse to the coverage for no additional cost, so there is no additional...more
A second federal district court judge has ruled in favor of the government on one of the most serious challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The court dismissed a challenge to the...more
A district court in the District of Columbia recently held that the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) rule authorizing premium tax credits to individuals who enroll in health-care coverage through federal exchanges was...more
As previously reported, the federal agencies responsible for drafting the rules implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (the U.S. Labor Department, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Treasury...more
The Affordable Care Act imposes a series of interrelated requirements on individuals, employers and providers. Individuals must maintain coverage or face the prospect of a tax penalty; carriers must offer and renew coverage....more
Royal Oakes was quoted in a Jan. 5th, 2014, Business Insurance article, Lawsuits Over Health Exchange Premium Subsidies Challenge Heart of Reform Law, by discussing a pair of lawsuits aimed at limiting availability of premium...more
The deadline to enroll in coverage for January 1 was officially extended by a week, but the new December 23 deadline is fast approaching, and premium payments are required to be paid by the last day of 2013 for January 2014...more
In 2007 Connecticut adopted a law requiring employers to adopt cafeteria plans if their employees are required to pay a portion of the health insurance premium for employer-sponsored health insurance through payroll...more