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New Jersey Enacts Individual Health Mandate
New Jersey Enacts Individual Health Mandate A new law entitled the “New Jersey Health Insurance Market Preservation Act” was signed by Governor Phil Murphy on May 30, 2018 to reestablish the recently repealed “shared responsibility tax”. The law, which will take...
NYS 2019 Rate Requests
NYS 2019 Rate Requests Last Friday, June 1, 2018, the NYS 2019 Rate Requests filings were released. Great news for SMB! The total weighted average increases were a modest 7.5% small groups but 24% for the individual market. This early filing request deadline...
No More Surprises – NJ Surprise Medical Bill Law
No More Surprises – NJ Surprise Medical Bill Law New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) signs law to take in effect within 3 months that will reduce Surprise Out-Of-Network Medical Bills.This is well needed and in-step with NYS law passed 3 years ago - No More Surprises...
Breaking: Trump Announces New Rx Program
President Trump announced earlier today a new pharmacy cost reduction program, “American Patients First”. The program aims to provide new tools to Medicare to negotiate lower prices, stop limiting pharmacists from helping patients save money and speed up approval of over-the-counter medicines so that fewer will require prescriptions.
Survey Shows 94% of PEOs Expect an Increase in Employees
Survey Shows 94% of PEOs Expect an Increase in Employees Professional Employer Organizations (PEO) growth doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Earlier this year, NAPEO released the results from there 2017 Q3 Industry Pulse Survey. The findings showed that PEOs are...
2018 Annual Benefit Plans Maximums
2018 Annual Benefit Plans Maximums If you would like a printable version of this guide, please email info@medicalsolutionscorp.com and we will gladly forward one to you. Pension Contribution & Benefit Limits 2017 Limit 2018 Limit Section 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b)...
Handling Snow Days and Employee Pay
Handling Snow Days and Employee Pay Spring started yesterday but Old Man Winter did NOT get the Memo. So what to do if it snows and employees are unable to get to work? IF YOU CLOSE YOUR BUSINESS If your company decides to stay open during bad weather, it's...
Case Study: Law Firm and PEO Solution
Case Study: Law Firm and PEO Solution Professional Services: New York Law Firm’s Benefit Benchmark Study Reveals Gap In Offerings A law firm with a benefit offering below the New York law firm benchmark, no HR person on staff, no formal recruitment strategy and no...
Small, Midsize Businesses Hold Key to Growth
Small, Midsize Businesses Hold Key to Growth By Thomas J. Donahue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sept 25 ,2017 Small, Midsize Businesses Hold Key to Growth The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3% last quarter, the fastest pace in more than two years and a...
$700 Million for Struggling Brooklyn Hospitals
$700 Million for Struggling Brooklyn Hospitals Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that One Brooklyn Health — a conglomeration of Interfaith Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Brookdale Medical Center — will receive a substantial share of the $700...
Cadillac Tax Delayed Two Years
Cadillac Tax Delayed Two Years We received the following communique from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) a delay in the Cadillac Tax for two years as a result of the passage earlier today in the US Senate of the continuing resolution (CR) to fund...
2018 Compliance Calendar
2018 Compliance Calendar 2018 Important Dates 2018 Compliance Calendar. The following are important compliance due dates and reminders for 2018. The laws and due dates apply based on the number of employees, whether or not someone does business with the federal...
Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Benefits Broker
Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Benefits Broker Are you asking the right questions? Yes, your Broker was referreered by family or friend. You may have met him at golf outing or an event. With rapidly changing laws and markets it maybe a good idea to refer back to this...
4 New Years Resolution Tips
4 New Years Resolution Tips (Courtesy Cleveland Clinic) Starting the New Year can be a perfect opportunity to change something about your life or behavior or do something you have always wanted to do. 4 New Years Resolution Tips. Here are a few examples of popular...
Empire Strikes Back – 2018 Plans
Empire Strikes Back - 2018 Plans Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield recently announced their re-entry back into the New York small group market for 2017. A legendary broad networked PPO is welcome news especially in the NY small group market of 1-100 employees. Recently,...
Tax Reform Bill Includes Repeal of Individual Mandate Beginning in 2019
Tax Reform Bill Includes Repeal of Individual Mandate Beginning in 2019 On Dec. 20, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which makes significant changes to individual and corporate provisions of the U.S. tax code, including a reduction in the corporate tax rate...
2018 Individual Marketplace Guidance
2018 Individual Marketplace Guidance Health and Human Services had released earlier this year the final version of its 2018 Individual Marketplace Guidance. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this is issued annually. While the guidance is mostly related to the...
6 Changes to 2018 Individual Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period
6 Changes to 2018 Individual Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period HealthCare.com Offers Insight on 6 Changes to 2018 Individual Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period. The health insurance Open Enrollment Period for 2018 opens Nov 1st and now lasts only 45 days....
NYS DFS Announces CareConnect Exit
NYS DFS Announces CareConnect Exit We have been informed that the NY DFS has recently approved the following measures in the process of CareConnect exiting the market: For individuals the market exit date is 12/31/2017. For Small Group the market exit date is...
NEW 2018 Healthfirst for NY Small Business
NEW 2018 Healthfirst for NY Small Business Healthfirst has released affordable new 2018 plans for NY small businesses and not a moment too soon. With the recent exit of popular CareConnect of NY the market is starving for an affordable option. About HealthFirst...
Healthpass Adds HealthFirst
Healthpass Adds HealthFirst HealthPass New York, a private health insurance exchange for small businesses, announces that it will offer Healthfirst insurance plans to small business employers in the metropolitan New York City area. Healthfirst, a provider-sponsored...
What you need to know about 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment
What you need to know about 2018 Health Insurance Open Enrollment Please join us online on Oct 25, 2017 1:00 PM. RSVP TODAY to reserve your seat.
NYS PFL Paid Family Leave Checklist
NYS PFL Paid Family Leave Checklist Starting January 1, 2018, New York State will require all ALL PRIVATE EMPLOYERS with one or more employees to obtain insurance under their disability insurance. Designed to provide financial stability for state residents through...
CareConnect Withdraws from NYS Market
CareConnect Withdraws from NYS Market CareConnect today has announced their intent to withdraw from the NYS 2018 market. The ACA Risk Adjustment Program was penalizing CareConnect again $100 Million for 2018 after a $112 million tax in 2017. The problems CareConnect...
NYS 2018 Final Rates Approved
NYS 2018 Final Rates Approved NYS has approved 2018 Final Rates last week. Small group rates will increase 9.3% while the individual rate average increase will be 13.9%. As per NY State Law carriers are required to send out early notices of rate request filings to...
Cuomo Administration Asks Feds for ‘Immediate Changes’ to Risk Adjustment Program
Cuomo Administration Asks Feds for 'Immediate Changes' to Risk Adjustment Program Yesterday marked 1 the year anniversary since the above Politico article "Cuomo Administration Asks Feds for 'Immediate Changes' to Risk Adjustment Program" was published. Little has...
HealthPass Adds Oscar
HealthPass Adds Oscar HealthPass New York will start offering OSCAR Health Plans effective Sept 1, 2017 to small employers. Oscar will offer eight plans with varying benefits package with 1 to 100 employees. The plans are available to small businesses located in New...
NYS 2018 Rate Requests
NYS 2018 Rate Requests Yesterday, NYS 2018 Rate Requests filings were released. The total weighted average increases were 11.5% small groups and 16.6% individual market. This early filing request deadline request requirement is not an Obamacare requirement. As per...
HSA 2018 Limits
HSA 2018 Limits The IRS has released the 2018 Health Savings Account (HSA) inflation adjustments. To be eligible to make HSA contributions, an individual must be covered under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) and meet certain other eligibility requirements. New...
Breaking: House Passes Obamacare Repeal & Replace
Breaking: House Passes Obamacare Repeal & Replace In a first step toward repealing and replacing Obamacare ie. Affordable Care Act (ACA), the House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) today by a vote 217-213. Every House...
Taming the junk food cravings hormones
Taming the junk food cravings hormones From our wellness partner, Cleveland Clinic Ever sneak a late-night snack after a big dinner, or binge late into the night? Eating a huge meal, then going to sleep, is the sumo wrestler diet. Your body can’t process or burn those...
Trump’s First Legislative Effort Fails as G.O.P. Pulls Bill to Repeal Obamacare
Trump’s First Legislative Effort Fails as G.O.P. Pulls Bill to Repeal Obamacare THE NEW YORK TIMES By ROBERT PEAR, JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, JENNIFER STEINHAUER and THOMAS KAPLAN MARCH 24, 2017 WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders, facing a revolt among conservatives...
Don’t Tax My Workplace Health Plan
Don't Tax My Workplace Health Plan ISSUE SUMMARY Don't Tax My Workplace Health Plan. Congress is currently considering healthcare reform proposals that would eliminate or place a cap on the employer-tax exclusion for health insurance. These proposals would undermine...
Ancillary Benefits Fill Benefits Gaps
Ancillary Benefits Fill Benefits Gaps The one constant in healthcare today is increasing costs. According to data from Kaiser, premiums have increased 50% over the past eight years with family plans reaching an all-time high of $18,142 for the year in 2016. The...
Here’s How Trump Will Change Obamacare
Leading article on the direction of TRUMPCARE we’ve read thus far. Former president Barack Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszak thinks Obamacare will be replaced through the waiver process.