Breaking News

Affordable Care Act

Rural Americans have fewer – and costlier – healthcare options

78781889

By Gigi Douban, January 23, 2014 When you think of the healthcare marketplace, you think of options and choices. But since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, one thing’s been clear: Options are not a given. Alabama is among a dozen or so states where every county has just one–or maybe two– insurers. Experts are noticing a pattern: Folks in …

Read More »

Obamacare Glitches Forced Woman To Postpone Cancer Surgery

462223835

By Jeffrey Young, January 10, 2014 Red tape and echoes of Obamacare’s early technological failures have created a potentially life-threatening crisis for a Connecticut woman forced to postpone surgery because her insurance coverage is in doubt. K.C. Handler, 43, of New Canaan got troubling news from her doctor in early December: Tests revealed a growth on her left lung that …

Read More »

Insurance through work? Health law affects you too

153700861

By Carla K. Johnson and Tom Murphy, January 21, 2014 The health care overhaul’s reach stretches far beyond the millions of uninsured Americans it is expected to help. It also could touch everything from the drug choices to doctor bills of people who have insurance through work. The law isn’t expected to prompt sudden, radical changes for workers. So you …

Read More »

The Aftermath of ACA Enrollment

450746395

Whew! The initial Obamacare enrollment is behind us, and we were able to assist our clients with coming into compliance with the new laws. Now what? ACA enrollment war stories? Did anybody else receive a call to help with coverage for the first of the year, “so I won’t be arrested for not signing up?”  Did anybody else receive an …

Read More »

The Information We Still Need to Manage Our Health Care

162441921

By Paul Downs, January 6, 2014 After writing eight posts on my search for health insurance, which generated more than 275 comment from readers, I was more than ready to move on. After all, I do have a day job — running my little factory — and I have other projects and problems to address. But my mind keeps returning …

Read More »

10 Things Everyone Should Know About Health Care Reform and ACA

168764267

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if we eat right, exercise and take care of ourselves. Sometimes, life happens, and it’s important to know that you didn’t do all that work of staying healthy for nothing. As the Affordable Care Act goes into effect, and the individual mandate makes health insurance a concern for the even the most off-the-grid nature freak, there …

Read More »

Insurance brokers, agents also caught in HealthCare.gov technology woes

92400262

By Lena H. Sun and Sarah Kliff, Published November 21 Brokers and agents say a host of technological problems is blocking their ability to help consumers sign up for coverage through the federal health insurance Web site. They say it is a particular problem for people with major health issues — those considered high-risk — because they are least able …

Read More »

The Unraveling of the Affordable Care Act

186372512

Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of speaking about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to groups of individuals and business owners. If I could describe the overwhelming response to ACA in one word, it would be total confusion. At present, there’s a lot of talk about the failure of technology in the enrollment process. True, the …

Read More »

What is a Summary Plan Description Under the Affordable Care Act?

What is a Summary Plan Description under ACA?

I recently had the “privilege” of reading a Department of Labor (DOL) employee benefit audit letter addressed to a business with under 50 employees. The first item listed for submission to the auditor was the Summary Plan Description (SPD). What is an SPD? It is a federally required document that explains to employees their plan benefits, claim review procedures and …

Read More »

The Affordable Care Act: Impact on Individuals & Businesses

This article is about the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which I will refer to as the “Act” or “ACA” for the sake of brevity. My intent is to present not only the perspective of providers and insurance companies, but also to look at the issues from the standpoint of individuals and businesses. Let’s discuss how …

Read More »