Governor Rauner, veto HB 2624
American Thinker reports: “Illinois HB 2624, introduced by Representative Laura Fine, limits the duration of short-term health insurance plans to 181 days. The intent of HB 2624 is to ensure that...
View ArticleTrump Is Being Vague About What He Wants to Replace Obamacare. But There Are...
The New York Times reports: “We don’t know what will emerge as President Trump’s plan to replace Obamacare, which he has promised to unveil immediately after the 2020 elections. But he has recently...
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Individuals
An individual health insurance policy is your own personal policy that is not tied to an employers group plan. Premiums are based on your age, zip code, and smoker status. As of 1/01/2014, the...
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Bull Valley, Illinois: Health Insurance
Image via Wikipedia We specialize in helping Bull Valley individuals, families, and businesses sign up and manage their Health Insurance. With the many changes to health insurance, you may be...
View ArticleCourt Schedules Week Of Health Care Arguments
Insurance News Net reports: “The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will use an unprecedented week’s worth of argument time in late March to decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s...
View ArticleUninsured turn to deal sites for health care
Benefitspro reports: “NEW YORK (AP) — The last time Mark Stella went to the dentist he didn’t need an insurance card. Instead, he pulled out a Groupon. Stella, a small business owner, canceled his...
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Health-Care Reform’s Fate Won’t Alter Health Care’s Larger Problems
Image via Wikipedia The Huff Post reports: “Health-care reform will not begin in earnest until 2014. However, 2012 will define whether it makes it that far. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule...
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ACA Provides Coverage For Nearly 50k Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions
Insurance News Net reports: Health Insurance Does Not Insure Health (Photo credit: SavaTheAggie) “Health reform law provides coverage for nearly 50,000 Americans with pre-existing conditions...
View ArticleEmployers Tie Financial Rewards, Penalties To Health Tests, Lifestyle Choices
Kaiser Health News reports: “Once a year, employees of the Swiss Village Retirement Community in Berne, Ind., have a checkup that will help determine how much they pay for health coverage. Those who...
View Article2012 HSA and FSA cheat sheet
Health Savings Accounts What are they? HSAs are tax-advantaged medical savings accounts available to taxpayers who are enrolled in an HSA-qualified high-deductible health plan. The funds contributed to...
View Article2013 HSA and FSA cheat sheet
BenefitsPro reports: “Health Savings Accounts What are they? HSAs are tax-advantaged medical savings accounts available to taxpayers who are enrolled in an HSA-qualified high-deductible health plan....
View ArticleIllinois awarded $32 million to develop health care exchange
The News-Gazette reports: “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Illinois nearly $32.8 million to continue getting ready to launch a major piece of the federal health care reform...
View ArticleNews from the Blues
May 16, 2012 BCBSIL Introduces 2012 Prescription Drug Program Changes (2-150 and 151+ BluePrintSM) Beginning July 1, 2012 [Group Markets] As reported on April 4, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois...
View ArticleAfter SCOTUS Ruling, Small-Ball Health Care Reform is the Way to Go
Townhall.com reports: No matter what the Supreme Court decides tomorrow, Congress will have to revisit Obamacare’s fundamentally flawed structure. But instead of trying to solve all of our health care...
View ArticleNo more wait-and-see for employers
Benefits Pro reports: Employers have been in wait-and-see mode pending the Supreme Court decision on health care reform legislation. If the court had overturned it, several mandates would have been...
View ArticleKey Findings of the July Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll
Kaiser Family Foundation reports: “July’s second Health Tracking Poll reports in further depth on public opinion toward the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of last month’s key Supreme Court...
View ArticlePapa John’s Pizza To Raise Prices Because Of Obamacare, CEO John Schnatter Says
Huff Post reports: “After President Obama’s health care law takes full effect, the slogan for national pizza chain Papa John’s may need an update. Instead of, “Better ingredients. Better Pizza,” may we...
View ArticleIllinois to decide on essential health benefits
Bloomberg Businessweek reports: “Gov. Pat Quinn has less than a month to choose which benefits will be required in basic health insurance plans sold to individuals and small businesses in Illinois...
View ArticleCalif. exchange wants TV shows to help tout Obama healthcare law
The Hill reports: “Officials in California want prime-time TV shows to help promote President Obama’s healthcare law. Outreach to television producers is part of the marketing plan adopted by...
View ArticleSeven Factors Driving Up Your Health Care Costs
Kaiser Health News reports: “There is no one villain in the battle against rising health care costs. Currently, the United States spends more on health care services than any other country, exceeding...
View ArticleDrug coverage to vary under health law
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study says basic prescription drug coverage could vary dramatically from state to state under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. That’s because states get to set...
View ArticleWhere have all the doctors gone?
Benefits Pro reports: “America has a real problem with its health care system. And in a time of true health reform, one big problem isn’t being addressed. We don’t have enough doctors. “This is a very...
View ArticleThirty years of health care “reform” – and it still doesn’t work
Retail’s Big Blog reports: “The first time I ever wrote about health care reform was around 1980, when health maintenance organizations were becoming popular and I was a young newspaper reporter with a...
View ArticleStudy: States Lag On Tracking Potential Obamacare Loophole
Kaiser Health News reports: “What if there were a way for even small employers to escape some Affordable Care Act rules blamed for driving up costs? Some see self-insurance for medical care, which is...
View ArticlePresident Obama may enroll under health law
Politico reports: “If President Barack Obama wants to make good on a promise to become one of Obamacare’s first customers, he’ll have to take a route most Americans are unlikely to choose. He’ll have...
View ArticleWhat If Obamacare Implodes?
The Motley Fool reports: “Obamacare could implode. I’m not saying that it will implode, and in fact this isn’t likely to happen. However, the possibility does exist. Here’s how it could happen — and...
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Are employers that don’t provide health insurance required to send exchange...
Issue: Your company does not offer health insurance coverage. Does it need to provide notice to employees about the health insurance exchanges created under the health reform law? Answer: If your...
View ArticleHealth Insurance Exchanges and SHOP Exchanges for Small Businesses
Small Business Trends reports: “As health care reform mandates take effect in 2014, small employers with fewer than 50 full time employees face more changes than large and medium-sized businesses....
View Article55 Health Care Reform Acronyms
Zane Benefits reports: “Health care reform has introduced a new language of acronyms, terminology, and abbreviations. These acronyms are used to describe the law, regulations, health insurance, and...
View ArticleNew health insurance choices under Obamacare
CBS News reports: “For many American workers Oct. 1 marks the beginning of open enrollment, when employees make benefits elections for the coming year. This is the time to make new choices or confirm...
View ArticleWhy employers may consider public health care exchanges
The Journal of Accountancy reports: “New public health care insurance exchanges may provide more affordable coverage than plans employers currently use, according to a new report. An analysis by PwC’s...
View ArticleObamacare’s Employer Mandate Is Toast, And Democrats Are OK With That
Yahoo Finance reports: “President Obama this week cheered the milestone 7 millionth person to sign up for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but a growing opinion is spreading among Democrats that the...
View ArticleWhy Obamacare’s been a boon for Blue Cross
Crains Chicago Health Care Daily reports: “Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois estimates that it scooped up 92 percent of consumers who bought Obamacare health insurance plans in the state. “We’re...
View ArticleFinal health care reform rule permits one-month orientation period
Business Insurance reports: “Employers are allowed to impose “orientation” periods of up to one month before a maximum 90-day waiting period on the start of health care coverage for new employees,...
View ArticleGetting Affordable Care Act subsidies
USA Today reports: “The Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, provides subsidies to Americans making up to 400% of the poverty level, about $94,200 for a family of four. Can you juggle finances to...
View ArticleThe Obama Admin Just Exempted US Territories From Obamacare
The Daily Caller reports: “The Obama administration issued yet another waiver to get out of Obamacare — for all the U.S. territories. The exemption, posted Thursday on a Department of Health and Human...
View ArticleModified Adjusted Gross Income under the Affordable Care Act
For individual/family plans, what is included in household income for subsidy determination? How do I know what to state for my income to determine subsidies? Household income includes incomes of the...
View ArticleWhy Can’t Employers Pay For Employees To Go To The Exchanges?
Health Insurance Exchange reports: “On November 6, the Department of Labor issued FAQ Part 22, which directly addresses some recent efforts by employers to reimburse employees for participation in the...
View ArticleEven U of C Medicine and Rush have health insurance problems
Crain’s Chicago Business reports: “Proving that no one is immune to the changes sweeping the health care industry, two of Chicago’s most prestigious teaching hospitals are being dinged by insurance...
View ArticleIs Blue Cross’ parent company too big, or not big enough?
Crain’s Chicago Business reports: “In health insurance, as in so many businesses, it helps to be big. Larger insurers enjoy many advantages over smaller rivals. They have more clout in pricing...
View ArticleWith Michigan Closure, More Than Half of Obamacare CO-OPs Have Now Failed
Energy & Commerce Reports: “WASHINGTON, DC – The number of failed Obamacare CO-OPs grew to one dozen today as Michigan became the latest to announce it was closing. To date, 12 of the original 23...
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Here’s What Medicare Part B Costs and Covers in 2016
According to The Motley Fool: “Learn how this part of the Medicare program works. Retirees rely on Medicare to help them with their healthcare expenses, but getting a better understanding of how the...
View ArticleHumana to Record 2016 Obamacare Shortfall, Membership Drops
According to Bloomberg Business: “Humana Inc. is the latest insurer to run into trouble in Obamacare’s individual health-insurance markets. The health insurer said that it probably won’t collect enough...
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Coming soon to your mailbox: An Obamacare tax form
According to The CT Mirror: “Even if you don’t get your health insurance through Obamacare, you’re likely to get something related to the health law in the mail in the coming weeks: A new tax form. The...
View ArticleMendoza criticizes Illinois’‘lawless’ fiscal climate
Crain’s Chicago Business reports: “Hospitals and doctors treating patients on the state payroll are now owed a collective $4.3 billion, Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza highlights in a new report...
View ArticleWhat is Trump’s New Short-Term Health Insurance Order?
Investopedia reports: “On February 20, 2018, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and the Treasury released a proposed rule that would increase the length of coverage for...
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