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White House offers extension on completing Obamacare enrollment The Obama administration plans to allow consumers to complete enrollment for health insurance under Obamacare after next week's deadline as long as they declare that they started the process before the end of the month. Click here to read more. Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in health care on federal marketplace The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline. Click here to read more. What to know about the March 31 deadline After all the waiting and all the fuss, there’s now less than a week to go until Obamacare’s big deadline. March 31 is the last day to sign up for health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or face a penalty (or tax) under the law. Here’s what to know about the deadline. Click here to read more. NAHU Washington Update: The Opposite of Friday Fun Just as last week's Washington Update was being sent out to you, our least favorite kind of email hit our inbox: notification that HHS had released not only a new proposed rule that covers a wide variety of exchange and insurance market topics of interest but also guidance on QHPs and other matters for the federally facilitated and partnership marketplaces in 2015. Click here to read more. A glitch in Obamacare marketplace no one noticed Nearly six months after the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, with the website running smoothly and more than five million people signed up as open enrollment heads to a close, a new glitch has come to light: Incorrect poverty-level guidelines are automatically telling what could be tens of thousands of eligible people they do not qualify for subsidized insurance. Click here to read more. Rx hurdles high under some PPACA plans Patients who think they have done well finding a relatively low premium in an exchange plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may be in for a rude awakening: limited access, and hefty costs, to the important drug coverage they need. That's the analysis from Avalere Health, which concluded that consumers purchasing insurance through the exchanges are twice as likely to face utilization management controls on prescription medications compared to people with employer-sponsored coverage. Click here to read more. HHS birth control mandate reaches Supreme Court A divided U.S. Supreme Court today debated whether companies can assert religious rights, hearing arguments in an ideological clash over a regulation stemming from Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Click here to read more.
Capital Blue Cross Preauthorization Requirements FAQ Get answers to the most frequently asked questions about preauthorization requirements. Click here to read more. Capital Blue Cross Producer Bulletin Effective April 1, 2014; additional services will be added to the list of services that require preauthorization. Services being included are High Tech Non-Emergency Imaging, Observation Care exceeding 48 hours, and Radiofrequency Ablation for Pain Management. A notice of preauthorization requirement changes was sent to all group administrators to include both policymakers and group leaders. Click here to read more.
Weekly PPACA Update Conference Call – There has been no extension on the Enrollment Deadline of 3-31-14. We recognize that many of you have questions that need answered in regards to the PPACA Law (Obamacare) and the opening of the Marketplaces on 10-1-2013. So, in a continuing effort to assist our agent-partners in getting the information they need to flourish within the under 65 group and individual health market, we are implementing a weekly telephone conference that will serve as a place to get your questions answered and discuss topics that will lead to your continued success in the health insurance market. Click here to register. Weekly PPACA Conference Call Archives Click here to view the archived recordings of the PPACA Conference Calls. PrimePay Broker Webinar Series - April 2014 Let's be honest. The requirements of ACA have added a countless number of unintended consequences with several of these affecting a very heavily used CDH account under IRC Section 105 called a Health Reimbursement Arrangement or HRA. Great confusion exists as how to best utilize an HRA going forward under ACA and how to appropriately communicate these new requirements to your clients. Click here to read more.
Staffing firms puzzled by PPACA According to Braswell and other analysts, there is the possibility that the IRS rule is intended to apply only to arrangements involving professional employer organizations, or PEOs, which traditionally have provided payroll, human resources, and other administrative services to small- or medium-sized businesses. Click here to read more. ‘Special’ medical market could be big The new individual coverage "open enrollment period" system could be more of scarecrow than a sales killer. At least that's what health insurance industry marketing veteran Jeff Smedsrud thinks. Smedsrud, the former chief marketing officer at Independence Holding Co., recently took over as the chief executive officer at HealthCare Inc. Click here to read more. Medicaid expansion alternative takes root in Arkansas Months after becoming the first state to offer health care coverage to lower-income residents through a “private option” rather than Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, Arkansas finally agreed to extend this closely watched political compromise. Click here to read more. One-third of uninsured Americans intend to stay that way One-third of uninsured Americans plan to remain uninsured despite the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that they obtain health insurance by March 31 or pay a fine, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Click here to read more. Honey, I shrunk the mandate Filed for bankruptcy in the past six months? Had medical bills you couldn’t pay in the past two years? Been a victim of domestic violence? Received a shut-off notice from a utility company? If you don’t want to buy insurance under Obamacare, you don’t have to. No penalty. Click here to read more. LEG REG REVIEW 3/24/2014 LEG REG REVIEW is a periodic newsletter produced by PHILLIPS ASSOCIATES, a professional lobbying and consultant firm located near the State Capitol. It contains news on the legislative and regulatory scene in Pennsylvania that may be of interest to the Insurance and Business Communities. Click here to read more.
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