individual health plans
Posted August 30th, 2017 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
In September, Senators will return to Washington D.C. from their August recess. Almost immediately, they’ll begin taking up health care (again), but this time Democrats and Republicans will jointly consider changes.
Posted February 16th, 2017 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
Approximately 12.2 million people signed up for coverage through federal and state-run Exchanges during the 2017 open enrollment period which ended on January 31st.
Posted December 30th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
Last week, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively the “Departments”) issued new guidance as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to evolve.
The guidance has been summarized into three different categories shown below:
1. Group Health Plans
Posted July 28th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
There has been a lot of shake up in the recent weeks and months as it relates to health insurance options available in the individual marketplace. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) announced it would only offer individual plan options in three states next year. Humana also announced they would be limiting the number of states it offers individual plans in next year. More recently, three additional CO-OPs in Connecticut, Illinois and Oregon announced their closures by the end of the year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled a new interim final rule on May 6, 2016 which amends certain special enrollment periods (SEPs) in the individual marketplace and revises certain rules pertaining to consumer operated and oriented plans (CO-OPs). The rule aims to curb abuse of the SEP, which insurers have said is occurring when consumers claim to have a qualifying event but actually do not. The rule also aims to strengthen the CO-OP program.
Posted April 4th, 2016 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
H&R Block®, the largest tax services provider in the country, has indicated that so far this year the average penalty paid by those individuals without health insurance in 2015 is $383. The average penalty paid in 2014 was $172, reflecting an increase of $211 from the previous year. The penalties will be steeper in 2016 being the greater of $695 or 2.5% of income.
Posted November 20th, 2015 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released premium and cost sharing information for Medicare beneficiaries in 2016. Approximately 70% of individuals will pay $104.90 per month for Part B, however, the premium cost will be higher for the remaining 30% of individuals who:
- Enroll in Part B for the first time in 2016; or
- Those who don’t currently receive Social Security benefits; or
- People who have Medicare and Medicaid, and Medicaid pays the Part B premium; or
The IRS and other agencies have issued three different sets of guidance making it clear that employers cannot give actively employed workers pre-tax dollars through a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) ,or any other type of arrangement, to purchase individual coverage on their own.
Posted June 13th, 2014 in Producers, Employers, Individuals
On June 1, 2014, same-sex marriage became legal in the state of Illinois. As a result, we wanted to revisit marriage as a qualifying event for health insurance coverage and discuss how account-based health plans are impacted.
As a trusted benefits administrator, Flexible Benefit Service LLC (Flex) wants to keep you informed on the following:
Federal regulators have recently indicated that they don’t feel the current COBRA notices provide enough information about the Exchanges and the options that COBRA beneficiaries have in the Individual Marketplace.
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