News

A new report finds the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandates stirred up significant market share changes among carriers offering individual plans, with lower-price plans seeing a surge in enrollment. Minneapolis-based analyst Allan Baumgarten released the study. Baumgarten looked at how the individual health insurance market grew after the first enrollment […]

They promised they would be coming and now they have. On Aug. 28, the Internal Revenue Service issued draft instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C and Forms 1094-B and 1095-B, which I provided in my July 31 entry. These forms were provided in draft format and they are used to satisfy Affordable Care Act’s “information […]

The downward spiral of public opinion surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Car Act continues since its July peak, just as midterm elections creep closer. The latest Health Tracking Poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds many more people pessimistic about the law, with 47 percent viewing it unfavorably vs. 35 percent supporting it. Among […]

Internal Revenue Service commissioner John Koskinen told a congressional subcommittee about the IRS’s progress on the Affordable Care Act and the impact that tax subsidies will have next tax season. In a hearing before the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, Koskinen talked about how the IRS would be processing the premium tax […]

Injury used to represent the bulk of employee absence managed by companies. Of course, injury leave is still important. But in recent years, the Family and Medical Leave Act, state and even local laws have made leave the most pressing, complex — and possibly litigious — type of absence in the workplace. The cost of […]

The emerging workforce continues to puzzle traditional managers, particularly those used to a once-size-fits-all approach to managing people. Now, Workforce 2020, a major study from Oxford Economics, in conjunction with SAP, has identified six major issues that businesses are struggling with. Oxford surveyed more than 5,000 employees worldwide and conducted a series of in-depth interviews […]

Though considered the most expensive of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act metal health coverage plans, platinum plans for certain consumers may be the most economical option. When it comes to covering the cost of specialty drugs, platinum plans offer the lowest out-of-pocket cost to the consumer, according to a HealthPocket study of public […]

Nearly half of all workers in California don’t get a single paid sick day from their employers. Additionally, this state of affairs is far worse for some classes of employees than others. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that, among the overall 44 percent of California adult workers who don’t get a paid sick […]

Disability benefits producers who market absence management services are discovering a frightening truth: As complicated as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and other state and federal leave laws are, understanding them is just one step on an ankle-twisting path. In addition to tripping up employers all on their own, leave laws interact with […]

The halls of Congress continue to resound with the clashing of ideological swords, and that cacophony will only become louder as the fall elections draw near. What are the owners of small businesses keeping an eye on during this election season? Paychex, the payroll company that serves myriad small businesses, took the pulse of some […]