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Health Care Spending to Rise 5.5 Percent Annually, CMS Estimates

February 21, 2019

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Health care spending in the United States is expected to rise 5.5 percent annually from 2018 to 2027, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates in a new report. "Among the major payers, average annual spending growth in Medicare (7.4 percent) is expected to exceed that in Medicaid (5.5 percent) and private health insurance (4.8 percent) over the projection period, mostly...

February 20, 2019

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Health Care Insurers Show Winning Hand in Court over CSR Payments

The nation's health insurance companies have been winning lawsuit after lawsuit over the Trump administration's decision to end cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments in 2017. CSR payments are a feature of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) that sent billions to insurers to help them restrain premiums for low- and middle-income customers on the Obamacare exchanges, defined as those w...

Report to Work' Takes on New Meaning in California

February 14, 2019

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The California Court of Appeal has ruled, in Ward v. Tilly's, Inc., that a 75-year-old state work order's phrase "report to work" also includes telephone call-ins to inquire whether or not to physically show up for a shift that day. The phrase appears in California Industrial Welfare Commission's (IWC) Wage Order 7 and mandates that when employees "report to work" but are not then required t...

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EEOC Proposes Complaint Process Changes

February 13, 2019

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today issued a technical Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes a limited procedural change to the federal sector processing regulations. The NPRM was posted by the Federal Register for public inspection today and will be published in the Federal Register on Feb. 14, 2019. Members of the public wishing to comment on the NPRM wil...

Utah Overrules Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion

February 12, 2019

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The legislature has approved -- and Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R.) has signed -- legislation that curtails the wish of state voters who, in November, approved a referendum expanding access to Medicaid to residents with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, in keeping with the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare). The legislation instead expands access on...

February 11, 2019

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Cottage Health Settlement Caps Record Year for HIPAA Enforcement

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has concluded an all-time record year in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement activity. In 2018, OCR settled 10 cases and was granted summary judgment in a case before an Administrative Law Judge, together totaling $28.7 million from enforcement actions. This total surpas...

Obamacare Small Business Portal Closes Today

February 10, 2019

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The Small Business Health Insurance Options Program (SHOP), which got off to a troubled start in 2014 on HealthCare.gov, breathes its last today, as the function shifts to brokers who will sell small business policies henceforth under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the ACA: This change follows...

February 6, 2019

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DOL Publishes Online Guide to FLSA

The Department of Labor (DOL) today announced the launch of an enhanced electronic version of its Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This new online version of one of the most popular publications of the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is designed to assist American employers and workers with a simple, easy-to-follow resource that provides basic WHD information, as well ...

Will FMLA Morph into the FAMILY Act?

February 4, 2019

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As the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) celebrates its 26th anniversary today (Feb. 5, 2019), movement is afoot in Congress to supplant the non-paid leave of the FMLA with paid leave under proposed legislation titled the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act. The proposed bill will be introduced in both houses in the near future, according to supporters. The FAMILY Act builds...

February 3, 2019

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Federal Judge Tosses Anti-Trump ACA Lawsuit

Conceding that the Trump administration's goal is to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare), U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander nonetheless has tossed a lawsuit by Maryland that claimed the administration's anti-ACA actions were harming the state's citizens. Brought by state Attorney General Brian Frosh, the lawsuit's main point was that the Trump administration is failing to enfor...

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