Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

February 21, 2017
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New SBC Template in Effect April 1

A new Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) template goes into effect April 1. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which may or may not be repealed this year by Republicans, requires that SBCs be distributed to policyholders each year, detailing the coverage they have under their health plan. The April 1 deadline applies to policies coming into effect on that date or later. Thus calendar-year pla...
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February 15, 2017
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CMS Under Trump Proposes Big Changes to Obamacare

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) today proposed shortening the open enrollment period for Obamacare, virtually cutting it in half, while also lowering the benefits and coverage standards for health insurers. The latter is designed to stabilize and eventually lower premiums. The proposed new enrollment period for insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is set to run from Nov. 1...
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February 15, 2017
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Humana to Exit Obamacare Exchanges

Saying it is "seeing further signs of an unbalanced risk pool," Humana announced on Tuesday that it is exiting the health insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which may be moot if the Republicans in Congress carry out their threat to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, though their timetable is uncertain. Humana last year already drastically scaled back its involvement i...
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February 15, 2017
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Business, Trade Groups Ask Congress to Overturn NLRB Joint Employer Rule

In a letter to members of the House Education and Workforce Committee Tuesday, more than 50 business and trade groups asked Congress to pass legislation to overturn the joint employer standard of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which holds franchisers equally responsible with franchisees for employee workplace issues. “The president can nominate two new board members, but those nomi...
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February 14, 2017
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Acting Chair Says Much Will Remain the Same at the EEOC

Victoria A. Lipnic, named by President Trump to be acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), told participants in a panel discussion that the commission will continue to enforce harassment and discrimination laws but will also focus on  expanding economic opportunity and job growth. “It is a new day and to the extent [we can] help foster employment opportunity and eco...
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February 12, 2017
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DOJ Withdraws Appeal of Transgender Bathroom Rule Injunction

On Friday, Feb. 10, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under new Attorney-General Jeff Sessions withdrew its challenge of an injunction that blocked that department's Obama-era regulation seeking free access to bathroom-of-choice use at public schools. At issue is what's known as gender identity. If a boy or girl identifies as the opposite sex despite physical characteristics, he or she can choos...
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February 11, 2017
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DOL Seeks Delay in Fiduciary Rule

Following President Trump's executive order to review its fiduciary rule, set to take effect April 7, the Department of Labor (DOL) on Feb. 9 informed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which has to approve every regulation, that it wants to delay the rule's implementation. The delay proposal process would not start until OMB responds to the request, which is expected to take several w...
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February 10, 2017
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Price Confirmed as New Secretary of HHS

Former Congressman Tom Price, a Democrat from Georgia and trained orthopedic surgeon, was approved this morning to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by a party-line vote of 52 to 47. Price, who has long advocated for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), will now take over an agency that spends $1 trillion a year administering various programs, including ...
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February 10, 2017
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Small Breach Notifications Due by March 1

HIPAA-covered entities must report small data breaches of protected health information (PHI) affecting fewer than 500 individuals to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) by March 1.  The law allows for 60 days to elapse at the close of a calendar year before that year's small breaches must be reported to OCR. When the breach itself occurs, however, the HIPAA-covered entity must report it to those...
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February 9, 2017
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Obama-Era DOL Fiduciary Rule Scores Rare Win in Texas Court

U.S. district courts in Texas have been the death knell for many Barack Obama-era regulations and executive orders -- immigration reform and a new overtime rule among the most prominent -- but yesterday (Feb. 8) a U.S. district judge in Texas beat back a challenge by the insurance industry against the Department of Labor (DOL) Fiduciary Rule. The irony is that the new president and Obama succe...
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Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

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