The Affordable Care Act has had a significant impact on employers of all sizes. Small employers are no longer rated based on gender or medical conditions, which is good for some companies but bad for others. Larger companies are required to offer qualified, affordable health insurance to their employees or face a tax penalty. And companies large and small are having to spend more time than ever on paperwork and employee communications.
Below are some updates to help employers develop strategies to keep premiums under control, understand how the employer mandate applies to them, and satisfy their employer reporting requirements.
Below is a notice from the National Association of Health Underwriters about today's IRS announcement that it would extend the deadline for providing forms 1095-B and 1095-C to their employees. Today, the IRS released Notice 2016-70, which extends the due…
Beginning January 1, 2017, all small group and individual metallic plans will experience a change to their Preferred Retail Pharmacy Network which allows members to pay the lowest copayment at a network of pharmacies designated as preferred. The preferred pharmacy…
NOTE: The following announcement applies to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas ACA-compliant individual, small group, and mid-market plans but NOT to grandfathered or transitional small group plans (there are no significant changes to the formularies or preferred pharmacy networks…
For all BCBSTX groups, the annual deadline for information pertaining to employee count is 8/26/2016. This information is used for the following: To determine if the group plan or Medicare is primary when a member has Medicare To determine if…
Have you received a notice from the Marketplace (Healthcare.gov) in the past few weeks? If so, you're probably wondering what it means--and what you're supposed to do about it. Here's a very quick overview. The Affordable Care Act requires the…
On February 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was extending the timeframe for “grandmothered” or transitional plans that have not yet implemented all of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is…
Earlier today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it would give self-insured and applicable large employers additional time to comply with the 6055 and 6056 reporting requirements for 2015. In Notice 2016-4, the IRS said that "additional time to adapt…
A few days ago, President Obama signed legislation delaying the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac tax” for two years. The tax on high cost health plans is now scheduled to go into effect in 2020. The provision delaying the excise tax…
When an individual turns 65 or is on Social Security Disability for 2 years, he or she is eligible for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance). For most people, there’s no charge for Part A since…