Benefits U

The Supreme Court announced today that it will hear arguments in the spring to determine the constitutionality of Healthcare Reform’s individual insurance mandate.  Supreme Court justices will hear over five hours of arguments in March and are expected to render a decision by late June 2012 on HCR’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance beginning in 2014 or pay a penalty.    

In addition to deciding whether the law’s individual insurance mandate is constitutional, the justices will also determine whether the rest of the law can take effect even if that particular mandate is held unconstitutional.  Opponents of the law believe that if the individual requirement fails, the entire Act should fail.  A decision in late June is expected to have a significant impact on the 2012 presidential election.

On October 14, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that Healthcare Reform’s Long Term Care insurance program was unworkable and would not be implemented.

The Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act program was intended to provide a basic lifetime benefit of at least $50 a day in the event of illness or disability. Coverage would have been provided to employees through the workplace, with all premiums paid by employees. The program was originally set to begin in January 2011 but was delayed earlier this year.

Public awareness of long term care insurance is growing and more and more employers now offer long term care insurance as a voluntary employee benefit. Premiums for coverage through an employer-sponsored plan are often lower than employees would pay for individual policies and coverage can be deducted through a salary deferral arrangement.

On August 1, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines that will require health insurance plans to cover additional women’s preventive services. The new guidelines build on Healthcare Reform’s requirement that all new private health plans cover evidence-based preventive services like mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure checks, and immunizations.

Beginning August 1, 2012, or the first renewal following that date, health plans will be required to cover contraception, breastfeeding support, and domestic violence screening without charging a co-payment, co-insurance, or deductible. (“Grandfathered” health plans are exempt.) The requirement to cover contraception applies to all forms of birth control approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including the pill, intrauterine devices, the controversial morning-after pill, and newer forms of long-acting implantable hormonal contraceptives.

Read More »

On June 17, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance to allow limited benefit, or “mini-med” plans, to apply for or renew temporary waivers from annual limit restrictions through 2013. In 2014, as part of Healthcare Reform, annual limits for new health plans will be banned/eliminated.

Read More »

Healthcare Reform’s Free Choice Voucher Program was eliminated on Friday, April 15, when President Obama signed the final 2011 federal funding bill.

The Free Choice Voucher Program was to begin in 2014 along with the new state health care exchanges. Employers that offer coverage would have been required to provide any employee with income less than 400% of the poverty level a Free Choice Voucher if the employee’s cost of coverage under the employer-sponsored plan was more than 8% but less than 9.8% of that employee’s household income.

Read More »

1099 Tax Reporting Provision to be Repealed.  On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill to repeal Healthcare Reform’s 1099 Tax Reporting provision. The bill has been sent to President Obama who is expected to sign it. The 1099 provision would have required all businesses, beginning in 2012, to file a tax reporting document for all vendors from which they buy $600 or more worth of goods or services within a year. The repeal of this provision is considered a big win for small business owners.

Read More »