Tag: Affordable Care Act

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Managing Employee Status Changes Under the Affordable Care Act

By Jennifer Carsen, JD, Senior Legal Editor So, you think you’ve got a pretty good handle on this whole Affordable Care Act (ACA) thing. You know that you’re an applicable large employer (or ALE—and that “ALE” isn’t merely that thing you want to drink a lot of after a day of filling out ACA paperwork).

Boomerangs and the Affordable Care Act

In yesterday’s Advisor, we heard from senior legal editor at BLR®, Jennifer Carsen, JD, concerning how to handle tricky Affordable Care Act (ACA) situations. Today we present more on that topic.

Paying for Health Costs: Basics of the Reimbursement Alphabet Soup

As healthcare costs continue to rise, financial pressure does, too. Your employees are feeling it, especially if you’ve had to shift an increasing share of healthcare costs to them. Higher copays and coinsurance may help control premiums, but they do nothing to rein in employee out-of-pocket costs. To the contrary, in fact.

Medicaid Expansion Could Improve Access to Behavioral Health Services, HHS Says

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a report showing that states can improve access to behavioral health services for residents by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “Substance use disorders and mental illness are prevalent and serious public health problems in American communities,” the HHS says in a press […]

Agencies Release New SBC Template and Glossary

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of the Treasury have announced enhancements to the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) template and uniform glossary. The changes include an additional coverage example and language and terms meant to improve consumers’ understanding of their health coverage.

U.S. Supreme Court Punts on ACA Contraceptive Mandate Case

By BLR Legal Editor Jennifer Carsen, JD For the past several months, court-watchers have been waiting for the Supremes to resolve a split among the circuits on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) contraceptive mandate. Today, the court released its long-awaited opinion—without ruling on the merits of the case.

Agency FAQs Address Many Unanswered ACA Concerns

By Benjamin J. Conley, JD Late last year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued IRS Notice 2015-87, a series of 26 frequently asked questions (FAQs) addressing a range of unanswered questions under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) employer mandate and […]