So, the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual mandate penalty has been reduced to zero, the Cadillac Tax has been delayed for two more years (and may likely never be implemented) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has been funded for six years. Now more than 1.75 million children in 20 states, who were at risk of losing their healthcare, can breathe… [Read More]
The nine million Americans covered by the federal healthcare exchanges must be feeling a lot like a ping pong ball… It’s a good thing the ball is moving so fast they can’t see it. President Trump has reversed himself again and indicated that he would not support a bipartisan effort to plug some of the holes… [Read More]
The Republicans are looking everywhere for funds to fix healthcare, as well they should. This problem is not an easy one to solve, however. Under ACA, employers were faced with the Cadillac Tax and as a result they wasted no time in planning to mitigate the effect. While the Democrats seemed to believe that this… [Read More]
We are all watching this train wreck unfold before our eyes. The individual exchanges were ill-conceived and poorly implemented from the onset. There is a bloodletting from the insurers, bankrupted co-ops, increased participant premiums, reduced plan options, and politicians looking to make the fixes (again). On one side, the government reports that costs are not increasing… [Read More]
The reason we haven’t heard much about healthcare during this highly charged election year is that the candidates aren’t too far apart. Clinton is supportive of continuing the Obama ACA legacy with small adjustments, and Trump, although asserting repeal and replace, seems to be taking a similar approach: building on the changes made to healthcare under… [Read More]
Recently, Paul Ryan and the Republican Party issued their response to the ACA. As expected, the plan eliminates the individual mandate and its ineffective penalties. The proposal also eliminates the Cadillac Tax and bases its funding on limiting the employee exclusion for health insurance. The non-tax deductible limit would vary based upon the region in which the employee… [Read More]
November 8th, 2016 is rapidly approaching, and it is pretty clear that Hillary Clinton will be facing Donald Trump in the presidential election. What does this mean for healthcare? First, let us talk about the landscape. The setup of healthcare exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, the underpinning of healthcare as we now know it, is… [Read More]
The NAHU Principals Council, of which I am a member, periodically meets in Washington DC to speak with regulators and legislators concerning employee benefit issues. Last Thursday we met with Republican leadership to discuss the aftermath of 1095 reporting and to also get an update on the Excise Tax (formerly known as Cadillac Tax). Republicans… [Read More]
Earlier this month, the President released his 2017 budget proposal which seeks to modify the controversial 40% excise Cadillac Tax. In 2020, the tax threshold is estimated to be approximately $10,800 for single plans and $29,100 for family plans. However, another change would address regional cost variances by tying the threshold to average marketplace “gold” plan in the states… [Read More]
One of the most controversial and ill-conceived portions of the ACA, the Cadillac Tax, is about to die a slow death. As written, the tax would have imposed a 40% levy on employer plans with annual premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families commencing in 2018. It was estimated that the tax would… [Read More]
