Anthem Has Been Hacked
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Announced on February 4th 2015 that they had been the target of a cyber-attack. The attackers gained unauthorized access to Anthem’s IT system and obtain personal information from current members and former members. The attackers obtains social security numbers, birth dates, names, addresses, email addresses, and employment information. This […]
Indiana Carriers Not Mailing out Certificates of Prior Coverage
When you have a health insurance policy in place and you end that coverage, you would usually receive a certificate of prior coverage. With that certificate, the new insurance company that you signed up with would then ask for that document to confirm you had prior coverage. In 2014 specifically, the insurance industry used the […]
Employer Mandate for 2015
The Employer Mandate is a part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that penalizes employers who do not offer health insurance coverage to their employees and dependents. The health plan has to meet certain criteria of the ACA and meet the definition of affordable to the employee. It does not address affordability to the dependents. […]
A Broker’s View on the Save American Workers Act
The Save American Workers Act is a Bill Authored by Rep. Todd Young that would change the definition of a full-time employee under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The current definition states that any employee working more than 30 hours a week qualifies for employer sponsored group health benefits. Also under the ACA is the […]
2015 Marketplace Plans for Indiana
Plans went live for Indiana on healthcare.gov over the weekend. Until the November 15th this is only for review. We have 7 companies offering a total of 75 plans with designs. Of the 75 planned designs, 6 are PPO, 1 POS, 7 EPO and 61 HMO. These are networks arrangements. PPO = Preferred Provider Organization: […]
Community Ratings and How They Impact Indiana
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or” Obamacare” health insurance companies are required to offer coverage to all people and businesses. This is called guaranteed issue and has helped a lot of Hoosiers. With Guaranteed issue, the ACA requires health insurance companies to use community ratings for Individual and small businesses. This is where the […]
Anthem Small Group Renewals in Indiana
This is possibly the most interesting time in small group health history locally, not to mention the rest of the country. Anthem releases 4th quarter renewals Small group health insurance renewals have been released for the 4th quarter from Anthem. “WOW” is all I can say! The renewals that are being released are all “grandmothered.” This […]
Dual Rulings on the ACA: How does this affect Hoosier small businesses?
Last week, we had two different rulings come out of the courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that it was not legal to give tax credits/subsidies to residents of states that did not develop a state-based exchange. In Richmond, we had another court rule that is was legal for the IRS to […]
Drug Exceptions Under the Affordable Care Act
As the Affordable Care Act provides more and more clarification on the law, we are starting to see some serious mandates outside of what was known. If you are receiving health insurance coverage through an ACA-compliant plan, you may be eligible for additional drug coverage that is not currently covered by your plan. The law […]
Parkview Hospital Settles HIPAA Violation
Here is some news you may not see in the local media outlets: Parkview Hospital group had a blatant HIPAA violation. HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. One aspect of this law is to protect the confidentiality of health care information. You may have noticed in the last few years that […]