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Employers may need to prepare for an avalanche of paperwork if the U.S. Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) passes Congress in its current form (or a similar form). The comprehensive 2,074-page health care reform bill, if passed, would impose many additional burdens on employers. Changes to Health Plans Employers would be […]
You can hardly turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper these days without hearing or reading something about the health care reform debate. No matter the political party or industry, nearly everyone seems to agree that the current system is broken, with tens of millions of Americans uninsured and health care costs skyrocketing. […]
According to a new survey by Mercer, a global consulting firm, 63% of the employers surveyed would cut health benefits to avoid paying the “Cadillac tax” found in the U.S. Senate’s health care reform bill. Twenty-three percent of employers said they would keep their current plan but pass along the new cost to their employees, […]
Update Dec. 21, 2009: President signs bill including COBRA subsidy extension By Ashley Gillihan and Carolyn Smith When Congress returned to session today, health care reform wasn’t the only piece of major legislation still left hanging as 2010 comes to a close. Also up in the air is whether the current COBRA health insurance subsidy […]
In a 220-215 vote, House Democrats passed a controversial health care reform bill with only one Republican voting for the legislation. The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) is a combination of three different health care reform bills approved by House committees this summer and is 1,990 pages with a 42-page manager’s amendment. […]
Update Dec. 16: COBRA Subsidy Extension Provisions Likely to Be Enacted As Part of DOD Appropriations Act By Ashley Gillihan and John Hickman Last week Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, released a 1,990-page health care reform bill called the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The bill is a […]
Employers’ HR and benefits teams are facing the question of what to do in response to pending health care reform. Competing health care proposals are being hotly debated by Congress and the White House in Washington, D.C., and by legislators and their constituents around the country. The debate presents the full range of options, from […]
In a 14-9 vote, the Senate Finance Committee has approved Senator Max Baucus’ health care reform bill, titled America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. All the Democrats on the committee and only one Republican voted for the legislation. Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine who helped work on the bill and whose vote has […]
After many months of efforts to craft a health care reform bill that would garner at least some bipartisan support, Sen. Max Baucus unveiled today, September 16, 2009, proposed legislation that has no Republican support as of yet, even from the three Republicans who were part of his efforts to craft a bipartisan bill. As […]
Since Congress returned from its recess this week, all eyes and attention have returned to health care reform. A framework for a potential bipartisan health care reform bill was made public this week. And President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress, outlining his plan for health care reform, though Republicans generally remain wary […]