Producers
Posted January 23rd, 2015 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The IRS has released the maximum penalties that are payable by individuals who are without minimum essential coverage in 2015 and who do not qualify for an exemption from the Individual Mandate.
The maximum penalties for this year are the greater of:
-
$325 per uninsured adult or $162.50 per uninsured child under age 18. The maximum penalty using this method is capped at $975.
February 15 is slated to be the final day for the 2015 open enrollment period. Luckily for small business owners there’s still time to take advantage of an affordable health care solution.
The IRS has issued proposed regulations that will introduce a new excepted benefit available to some employees who purchase individual market coverage. Excepted benefits are exempt from most of the requirements and obligations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Posted December 19th, 2014 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have both voted and approved an extension of more than 50 different tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013. The actions taken would retroactively extend these tax provisions for 2014, but it does not extend them into 2015.
Posted December 12th, 2014 in Producers, Individuals
Earlier this year the IRS released three revenue procedures (2014-46, 2014-37, 2014-41) which provide guidance to individuals on their obligation to maintain minimum essential coverage and includes information on subsidies available through the Health Insurance Marketplace (Exchange).
The High Cost Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage Excise Tax, more commonly known as the Cadillac Tax, is scheduled to take effect in 2018. The Cadillac Tax is described as an attempt to reduce health care usage and costs by encouraging employers to offer health plans that are more cost effective and that engage employees in the cost of care. Experts estimate that the tax will raise $80 billion over a 10 year time period and will finance various components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Effective October 31, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of e-Health Standards and Services (OESS), the division of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that is responsible for enforcement of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) standard transactions, code sets, unique identifiers and operating rules, announces a delay, until further notice, in enforcement of 45 CFR 162, Subpart E, the regulations pertaining to health plan enumeration and use of the Health Plan Identifier (HPID) in HIPAA transactions adopted in the HPID final rule (CMS-0040-F).
This enforcement delay applies to all HIPAA covered entities, including healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses.
Posted October 24th, 2014 in Producers
We, at the Flex General Agency, are excited about this Medicare sales season and wanted to provide some general insight for insurance professionals regarding this booming marketplace.
Reminder: The 2015 Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Period started on October 15 and runs though December 7, 2014.
Posted August 8th, 2014 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) limits the maximum waiting period that employers can use for health coverage to 90 calendar days. However, there is something also referred to as an orientation period which seems to have taken a back seat to the 90 day waiting period. The final ACA rules allow employers to use an orientation period of up to one month (in addition to the 90 day waiting period) for bona fide employment reasons.
What Does That Really Mean?
Posted August 1st, 2014 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
July 22nd was quite an eventful day as it relates to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On the same day, two different U.S. Courts of Appeals came to opposite conclusions as it relates to the ability for federally-facilitated Exchanges to provide subsidies to enrollees.
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