By George O’Brien The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule (pdf) implementing the requirement of the Affordable Care Act that health insurance issuers disclose and justify “unreasonable premium increases” before implementing them. The final rule “establishes a rate review program to ensure… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Supreme Court Sends Pension Plan Case Back to Lower Court for Reconsideration
By Susan Katz Hoffman The Supreme Court has issued a decision in CIGNA Corp. v. Amara, (pdf) holding unanimously that section 502(a)(1)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (the section allowing a participant to sue for benefits under an ERISA plan) did not permit the district court to rewrite the terms of the benefit… Continue Reading
Obesity’s Impact on Workforce Productivity & Healthcare Costs
By Kristina Escamilla Concern over obesity in America has grown to such an extent that the campaign to combat it now rivals the anti-smoking war that has been waged for the last decade. In much the same way that epidemiological studies linking smoking to health concerns spurred the campaign against smoking, new studies on the cost… Continue Reading
House Passes Bills Repealing State Funding for Health Exchanges, Restricting Funding for Abortions
By George O’Brien Returning from a two-week recess, the House of Representatives continued its reassessment of healthcare reform this week. On Tuesday the House approved by a 238-183 vote a bill that would repeal mandatory funding established by the Affordable Care Act to provide grants to states to establish health insurance exchanges. Specifically, H.R. 1213… Continue Reading
Agencies Seek Input on Affordable Care Act’s Employer Responsibility Provisions
By George O’Brien The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are soliciting input on a variety of issues related to the shared responsibility provisions of the health care reform law that take effect for employers with 50 or more employees beginning in 2014. Under the Affordable Care Act’s shared responsibility requirement, commonly referred… Continue Reading