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Health insurance giant Humana is cutting 1,300 positions, offering early retirement to another 1,150 employees and suing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for breach of contract over the Obamacare risk corridor provision, as it exits from offering insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Humana currently offers Obamacare policies in 156 counties in 11 states, but is dropp...

On the first day of open enrollment for Obamacare health insurance policies -- Nov. 1 -- some 200,000 people signed up on HealthCare.gov, double the number from 2016, according to reports in various media sources including The Hill and The Washington Post. In addition, some 1 million visited the website, up from 750,000 a year earlier. ...

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2018-2022 with an emphasis on "jobs, more jobs and even more jobs," in the words of Secretary Alexander Acosta. Labor Secretary Acosta[/caption] In his "Secretary's Message" prefacing the document, Acosta writes: "Our nation’s greatest resource is the A...

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a Clinton-era initiative that ran out of funds on Sept. 31, has been reauthorized by a 242-174 vote in the House of Representatives, but now faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where some of the bill's provisions are viewed askance. The reason for resistance by some senators: The bill creates higher Medicare premiums for people who earn more t...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a report "on qualified health plans (QHPs) available in the Exchange for states that use the HealthCare.gov platform, including estimates for issuer participation, health plan options, premiums, and subsidies in the upcoming open enrollment period (OEP), and trends since the first OEP." ...

Today (Nov 1., 2017) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) launched an EEOC Public Portal to provide online access to individuals inquiring about discrimination. "This secure online system makes the EEOC and an individual's charge information available wherever and whenever it is most convenient for that individual," said EEOC Acting Chair Victoria A. Lipnic. "It's a giant leap fo...

Vacant since June with the retirement of Dorothy Dougherty, the position of administrator of the Technically, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mugno would become Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. Mugno's full current title is vice president for safety, sustainability, and vehicle maintenance at FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh, PA. He also has served as managing direc...

After dropping the Obama-era appeal of an injunction against that administration's proposed overtime rule, sources say the Department of Labor (DOL) is poised to return to court to argue against the permanent injunction issued this summer by Judge Amos Mazzant.  Secretary Acosta meets with DOL employees on his first day on the job. ...

Following President Trump’s call to action that led to the declaration of a nationwide public health emergency regarding the opioid crisis, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is releasing new guidance on when and how healthcare providers can share a patient’s health information with his or her family members, friends, and legal personal representatives when that patient may be in crisis and ...

Saying the lawsuit by California and 17 other states would be "counterproductive," an Obama-appointed federal judge in San Francisco has declined to order President Trump and his administration to restore cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to Obamacare insurers.  U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria U.S. District Judge Vi...