Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

June 20, 2014

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Few Pay Full Premium for Obamacare, HHS Reveals

In a report released this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reveals that 90 percent of the 5.4 million Americans who purchased health insurance on the federal exchange are receiving subsidies and paying less than $100 a month for their policies. According to the report titled "Premium Affordability, Competition, and Choice in the Health Insurance Marketplac...

June 20, 2014

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EEOC to Update Wellness Program Rules to Root Out Discrimination

In its latest regulatory agenda, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lists a re-examination of the rules for company wellness programs as one of its priorities, determined to wring every ounce of discrimination out of these programs. As an example, the disabled might not be able to participate in all the incentives in such programs, as these incentives often include exercis...

June 17, 2014

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HHS Counsel Predicts HIPAA Fines to Soar Even Higher

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has collected $10 million in fines since June 2013 for breaches of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which protects patients' medical privacy, but an OCR senior counsel says that figure will be "low compared to what's coming up." HHS Chief Regional Civil ...

June 16, 2014

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NLRB Deposes a Witness in Spain via Videoconferencing

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the first time in the agency’s history recently conducted a trial examination of a witness via international videoconferencing. NLRB Region 20 in San Francisco worked with employees of the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain, to facilitate the transmission of the testimony. Prior to this week’s testimony, all previous use of video ...

June 14, 2014

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Appeals Court Busts DOL for Lowering Wages in Herding Industry

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in a 3-0 decision, has ruled that the Department of Labor (DOL) illegally lowered wages and worsened working conditions for cattle herders, sheepherders and goat herders because it bypassed required rulemaking procedures. in 2011 the DOL updated its regulations on wages and working conditions in the herding industry, but it did so wi...

June 13, 2014

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DOL Issues Proposed Rule Implementing New Contractor Minimum Wage

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a proposed rule to implement President Obama's Executive Order 13658, which mandates a minimum wage of at least $10.10 an hour at companies entering into contractors to do federally compensated work. According to a fact sheet on the new proposal, the minimum wage applies to four categories of federal con...

June 12, 2014

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Seattle Faces Lawsuit Over Implementation of $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage

The International Franchise Association (IFA) has filed suit against Seattle for lumping franchise owners into the major corporation category, meaning they have to implement the new $15-an-hour minimum wage in three years rather than in the seven years given small businesses to comply. The clock starts ticking on April 1, 2015, when the law kicks in. The association has even launched ...

June 11, 2014

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CMS Allows 18 States to Forego SHOP 'Employee Choice' Until 2016

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday approved applications by 18 state insurance commissioners to delay offering the "employee choice" option on their Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). Under "employee choice," individual employees of a qualifying small business would be able to pick and choose among policies. The states that wi...

June 9, 2014

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HHS Scraps Program to Audit Medicare Advantage Plans

After uncovering hundreds of millions -- potentially billions -- in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans for inflated "risk scores," the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) scrapped the audits as too costly this past year, according to a yearlong investigation by the Center for Public Integrity. In 2007 alone, the IG audits found t...

June 7, 2014

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Obamacare Site to Be Revamped, Hosted by Amazon

The administration's 36-state-and-growing health insurance website is undergoing a makeover for the umpteenth time and will now see many of its functions hosted in the cloud by Amazon.com, according to the Wall Street Journal. Among other changes, HealthCare.gov will feature a new application for insurance and a new comparison tool for weighing plan options. The changes were annou...

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