Affordable Care Act for California. Latest news and updates for ACA medical insurance for businesses and individuals
Employee Medical Clinic As a sign of change in medical care delivery, Amazon has opened its first health care clinic for its employees in Dallas, Texas. According to the Amazon announcement, “Amazon expects to establish 20 health centers in five cities across the U.S., improving access and care [...]
Less than two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post that predicted that fireworks would hit California’s small group health insurance market with UHC’s new Association Health Plans. Well, sparks flew. Yesterday, UnitedHealth Care announced that because of “regulatory inquiries over the past couple of weeks” UHC has suspended [...]
UnitedHealth Care (UHC) kicked-off Summer 2019 with a bang. During a webinar to their top brokers on July 1st, they made the game-changing announcement that they will introduce 9 new Association Health Plans (AHP) into the California small group marketplace (1-100 employees.) By screening enrollees for pre-existing medical [...]
On Wednesday, I was fortunate to be included in a round table discussion with the senior leadership of Kaiser Permanente's small group sales and account management team. To encourage discussion, Kaiser limited participation to a few key brokers. (2019 Kaiser Key Broker Engagement Luncheon, Pasadena, California. Third from [...]
NOTE: The answer to this question requires compliance with both the HIPAA Nondiscrimination Requirements and the IRS Section 125 Nondiscrimination Rules. IRS Nondiscrimination Rules apply when employees make pre-tax paycheck contributions for employee benefits using a Section 125 Premium Only Plan (POP). If you are a client of Benefits [...]
Yesterday I had an opportunity to get an advance look at the new Kaiser Permanente (KP) medical facility in Santa Monica and at the same time get a glimpse of the future of medical care. To say that this facility is revolutionary would be an understatement. While the Kaiser facility occupies [...]
If you didn't sign up for individual health insurance in California during the open enrollment period, you're not stuck. A little known state program, Major Risk Medical Insurance Plan (MRMIP), may be your saving grace. While no insurance company will offer you coverage outside of the open enrollment period unless [...]
Like the W-2 forms that employers give to employees and the IRS that report wages; beginning in 2016 employers with 50 or more employees must give employees and the IRS a completed 1095-C form. The 1095-C reports on an employee's medical insurance coverage.
The good news is that in July, 2013 the IRS issued Notice 2013-45 which gave large employers “transitional relief” from the “shared responsibility” penalties.... Accordingly, neither the reporting requirements nor the employer shared responsibility provisions apply for 2014.
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported that large employers estimate that the cost of group health insurance will increase about 5% in 2015. I was quoted in the last two paragraphs of the article, talking about the 2015 rate increases for California small businesses. We've seen rates increase from a few percent to twenty percent depending on the characteristics of the employees. While there are winners and losers among California employers; we have been able to change our clients to different insurance companies and different plans so that in most cases they won't have any increase and many of our clients will pay less for group health insurance in 2015 than they did in 2014.