Healthcare Compliance Inc

Monday, 16 January 2017

The Future of Covered California under President Trump

Covered California is the only place where an individual can learn about and use federal financial assistance that can help reduce health care costs.

California stands to lose $20.5 billion a year in Obamacare funding — $15.5 billion for Medi-Cal and $5 billion in Covered California subsidies.

California’s programs won’t be gone overnight. Despite campaign promises to the contrary, it is virtually impossible to repeal Obamacare on day one of the Trump administration. The Senate filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes to move legislation forward, provides Democrats with a mechanism to block a complete repeal effort. And there would be an enormous backlash against an immediate, abrupt repeal. More than 20 million Americans are newly insured under Obamacare, and many congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, understand the very real political costs of throwing them under the bus. So Obamacare is likely to continue through the end of 2017, and perhaps 2018.

Since the election, Trump has emphasized maintaining at least two popular features of Obamacare — allowing children to stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26, and requiring insurers to offer insurance to those with pre-existing conditions without higher premiums. (There’s a caveat — premiums will go up if you aren’t continuously covered.)

Covered California is the place where Californians can get brand-name health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Thursday, 12 January 2017

How Will The Planned Repeal Of Obamacare Affect Californians?

Covered California is a state-designed program to make it simple and affordable for you to purchase high-quality health insurance and access financial assistance to pay for coverage.

As federal lawmakers debate the fate of Obamacare this month, health coverage for millions of Californians hangs in the balance.

Covered California, the state health insurance exchange, and the expansion of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents, are products of the Affordable Care Act. Both could be at risk if the GOP-led Congress and President-elect Donald Trump gut key pieces of the health law.

For instance, if federal lawmakers kill the tax credits that have subsidized health insurance premiums for those who qualify, “what happens … to the people who purchase the plans on Covered California? Will they just have to pay out of pocket?” she said. “So many people just won’t be able to afford that.”

If you have a small business, Covered California can help you shop for health plans for your employees.

Covered California Official Says Obamacare Repeal Won’t Happen Anytime Soon

Covered California is where you can compare quality health plans from brand-name health insurance companies.

So if Obamacare is being repealed and replaced simultaneously with something else, does that mean there’s no point in signing up for medical insurance through Covered California? And if you have an existing plan, is it going away soon?

Not so.

Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, says those who already have health insurance through Covered California can count on that coverage. And those who don’t, should sign up now.

“Things in Washington do not happen overnight. Health care can change overnight,” Lee said. “Our number one message is, we’re in open enrollment, now is the time. If you don’t have insurance, sign up and get the insurance, change is going to take time.”

Right now, you can get a new plan or make changes to an existing one. And the open enrollment period ends on January 31.

Covered California is a state-designed program to make it simple and affordable for you to purchase high-quality health insurance and access financial assistance to pay for coverage.

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Trump’s Obamacare | Congress Prepares for Obamacare War

The conservative case against Obamacare can take a lot of different forms but it often focuses on the expansion of government regulation and spending.

As Republicans near their long-sought repeal of Obamacare, their battle with congressional Democrats entered a new phase Wednesday, with both parties vowing to convince Americans the other side is to blame if millions of people see their health care disrupted.

President Barack Obama huddled with Democrats to formulate a strategy that will inflict maximum political pain on Republicans as they move closer to a repeal vote — and encourage Americans whose health care may be disrupted to pin their problems on the GOP. Meanwhile, Vice President-elect Mike Pence held court with Republican lawmakers and pleaded with them to tell their constituents “the truth” — that Democrats are responsible for passing a broken law in the first place.

To begin with, ObamaCare often speaks of consumers, rather than citizens.

Tuesday, 20 December 2016

An Alternative For People Who Hate Obamacare

The people whom you might expect to be supporters of Obamacare often excoriate the paltry and pricy insurance they receive.

There are mornings like Tuesday’s on which I believe that the voters who put Donald Trump over the top may be just a little unclear on the issues. Not their fault, of course. It’s a busy world. However, let us take, for example, healthcare policy and the future of the Affordable Care Act. Two separate news items are illuminating on the subject. The first, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, illustrates perfectly a strict constructionist view of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The Gallup data, analyzed with the county typology from the American Communities Project, show that eight county types have seen increases in health insurance coverage greater than the national average. Six of those types — representing about 77 million people or 33 million votes, a quarter of the total cast — sided with Mr. Trump, some by very large margins.

Advocates for ObamaCare often dismiss this concern, stating their belief that the subsidies will be generous enough to ensure that the risk pool remains stable.

Friday, 16 December 2016

Why Repealing the ACA Before Replacing It Won’t Work

Discussion of the Affordable Care Act often incites fear, confusion, and anger in people both for and against its passage.

With Republicans now in control of the Presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives, they have the opportunity to fulfill their repeated promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They banded together to pass repeal alone early this year (albeit knowing it would get vetoed by the president), but no detailed consensus replacement plan has emerged.

There has been no shortage of ACA replacement plans put forward by think tanks and members of Congress, including Speaker Paul Ryan’s Better Way, HHS Secretary nominee Tom Price’s Empowering Patients First Act, and the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment Act (P-CARE) led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, House Energy & Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, and Senator Richard Burr, but many are still in outline form or lack critical details and none has been voted on or scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Despite the lack of consensus on what a replacement plan looks like, Republicans are signaling that they plan to use the budget reconciliation process (which only requires a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60 votes needed to bypass a filibuster) to pass a law immediately that repeals the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, premium tax credits, cost-sharing assistance, and the taxes that helped pay for it (leaving in place the law’s insurance market and Medicare reforms) as of a date certain in the future (likely January 1, 2020). The delayed effective date is supposed to give lawmakers time to craft a replacement without disrupting coverage in the interim.

In every community across the country, the Affordable Care Act is working to increase access to affordable, quality health care.

Repeal and delay would cause chaos in the individual insurance market.

Read the full story at Brookings.edu….

2016 – Impact on ACA Compliance Issues

The post Why Repealing the ACA Before Replacing It Won’t Work appeared first on ACA Reporting Service | Obamacare Compliance | Health Care Compliance Inc..

source https://healthcare-compliance-inc.com/why-repealing-the-aca-before-replacing-it-wont-work/

Thursday, 15 December 2016

2016 – Impact on ACA Compliance Issues

OVERVIEW

After hard-fought campaigns by both candidates, Republican candidate Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States. Trump’s victory in the election, along with Republican majorities retained in both the Senate and House of Representatives, will likely have a significant impact on a number of compliance issues over the next four years.
During his campaign, Trump called for a repeal of President Barack Obama’s hallmark health care reform legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In addition, Trump’s victory raises uncertainty over the future of other policies enacted under President Obama, including the new overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

President-elect Donald Trump will not take office until he is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. This means that, despite the coming change in power, there will likely be no significant legislative or regulatory changes prior to 2017. As a result, employers should continue to prepare for upcoming requirements and deadlines to ensure full compliance.

Download the Full Report……

The post 2016 – Impact on ACA Compliance Issues appeared first on ACA Reporting Service | Obamacare Compliance | Health Care Compliance Inc..

source https://healthcare-compliance-inc.com/2016-impact-aca-compliance-issues/