Health Care Marketplace 

Zenefits Fined, Again. Human resources startup Zenefits will pay up to $7 million in penalties under terms of a settlement with California regulators who had accused the San Francisco company of selling insurance policies without the proper licenses. Zenefits has settled improper-licensing claims with regulators in at least seven other states this year: Arizona, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington. (BenefitsPro, 11/29)

HHS Secretary. Tom Price, MD, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee, is Mr. Trump's official pick for secretary of HHS. Rep. Price, 62, has 20 years of experience in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon. He would be the first physician to head HHS since Louis Sullivan, MD, who led the department under President George H. W. Bush between 1989 and 1993. In 2015, he introduced the Empowering Patients First Act, which would fully repeal the ACA and replace it with a detailed plan that includes individual health pools and expanded health savings accounts. Many of his ideas are also present in the House Republicans' "A Better Way" agenda. 

CMS Administrator. Seema Verma, president, CEO and founder of health policy consultancy SVC, is Trump's nomination for CMS administrator. Seema Verma, 46, was chosen as CMS administrator for her experience in advising on Medicare and Medicaid policy. Ms. Verma is credited with designing the Healthy Indiana Plan, Indiana's consumer-directed Medicaid program under Gov. Mitch Daniels, and for updating it under Mr. Pence's governorship. She has helped other conservative states roll out similar models, according to The Wall Street Journal. After the ACA passed in 2010, she led health reform in Indiana, working with state agencies to interpret regulatory changes.

Judge Blocks Overtime Rule. On November 22, 2016, a federal district court granted a nationwide preliminary injunction enjoining the implementation and enforcement of the Department of Labor's ("DOL's") new overtime regulations that were set to go into effect on December 1, 2016. The new regulations, among other things, increased the salary threshold applicable to the bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employee overtime exemptions ("white collar exemptions") from $23,660 to $47,476. The court held that the new regulations exceed the DOL's authority by transitioning the white collar exemption test from a duties-based test to a salary-based test, and by mandating a three-year automatic updating of the minimum salary level applicable to the exemptions. The court's decision is temporary in nature, and places the new regulations on hold pending a final injunction hearing.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) announced a national service to help beneficiaries locate deceased persons' lost life insurance and annuities. According to the NAIC, about $1 billion in life benefits are unclaimed. The NAIC program may be accessed through the PA Insurance Department (www.insurance.pa.gov ,click on 'Life' under Insurance Coverage.) The Department says that this resource research has netted $90,000 or more in benefits paid to PA beneficiaries. (Leg Reg Review by Phillips Associates)