Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

December 16, 2013

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HHS to Focus on the 'Good, Bad & Ugly' of Contracting

Following the mess that became the HealthCare.gov website, whose creation was awarded to a single contractor without competitive bidding, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is ordering a review and putting new policies and personnel in place to clean up the contracting process. At the same time, the department announced that its January "Contracting with CMS&...

December 15, 2013

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HHS Announces Fix to HealthCare.gov Data Output

With about a week to go before the Dec. 23 deadline to apply for health coverage commencing Jan. 1, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Saturday announced that the HealthCare.gov website had been fixed so that complete and correct information would henceforth be transmitted to affected insurance companies HHS said that the error rate is now down to 0.38 percent...

December 13, 2013

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Fate of Nation's Highest Minimum Wage to Be Determined in Court

12/14 Update: The case has been heard and the judge has promised a decision this month. Judge Andrea Darvas of King County Superior Court will hear a challenge today on the $15-an-hour minimum wage just approved by voters in the small town of SeaTac, Wash. Supporters of the measure, which won with a margin of fewer than 100 votes, have already vowed to appeal to the state's h...

December 12, 2013

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Senate Panel Says Federal Contractors Are Among the Biggest Violators

A just-released study by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee says that as many as 30 percent of companies hit with the biggest fines for labor law violations are federal contractors. According to the findings by the panel chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa): • Eighteen federal contractors were recipients of one of the largest 100 penalties issued by the Occ...

December 11, 2013

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Nearly 2 Million Have Completed the Obamacare Eligibility Process, HHS Says

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that nearly 365,000 individuals selected plans from the state and federal Health Insurance Marketplaces through the end of November. November alone added more than a quarter million enrollees in state and federal Marketplaces. Enrollment in the federal Marketplace in November was more than four times greater than Octo...

December 10, 2013

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USCIS Issues New Manuals for E-Verify

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued new manuals for its E-Verify system of online employment eligibility verification. The agency has tailored the guides to differing groups of users: employers, employer agents and web services. Employer agents are third parties who do E-Verify employment eligibility checking for employers, and web services are online...

December 9, 2013

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USCIS Issues New MOU for E-Verify Employers

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new memorandum of understanding (MOU), effective yesterday, for employers who wish to participate in the E-Verify program. The MOU sets forth responsibilities for both the user and the government regarding the online employment eligibility database. Existing E-Verify users do not need to execute new MOUs but will nonethele...

December 8, 2013

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HHS Launches Obamacare Website in Spanish

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this weekend rolled out its Spanish-language Affordable Care Act (ACA) sign-up website. Originally scheduled to launch on Oct. 1, the site was delayed while the English-language site, HealthCare.gov, underwent fixes. "This weekend, we will soft launch the consumer-friendly Spanish online enrollment tool CuidadoDeSalud.gov. We think it...

December 7, 2013

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HealthCare.gov Error Rate Reportedly Cut in Half

Errors on data being sent from the HealthCare.gov website to insurance companies for fulfillment of purchases is down to about 10 percent, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said Friday. The website was so stodgy and error-prone when it was introduced on Oct. 1 that CMS has since overseen some 500 "fixes" on HealthCare.gov, and this past Sund...

December 5, 2013

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Audit Shows IRS Obamacare System Open to Fraud

The Treasury Department's Inspector General (IG) for Tax Administration warns that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) needs to act quickly to put controls in place to prevent fraud by taxpayers seeking refundable tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). "Without adequate fraud mitigation controls, the IRS may be unable to identify ACA refund fraud or schemes prior to the ...

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