Taxpayers facing the new federal tax penalty for not having health insurance in 2014 will have an additional opportunity to purchase health insurance in 2015. As The Washington Post reports, up to 6 million Americans are expected to face the…

Employers need to be cautious when classifying individuals as independent contractors. Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can have serious financial and legal consequences. The New York Times reports the IRS is emphasizing the distinction between employees and self-employed…

The NEEBCo Conference Center will be host to a series of ACA-related educational seminars to prepare employers for the 6055 and 6056 reporting requirements, due in early 2016. Determination of employer size and full-time employee status using the appropriate ACA…

Credit protection for current and former Anthem members potentially impacted by the cyber attack is available as of February 13, 2015. Members are being offered identity repair assistance and credit monitoring services via AnthemFacts.com. Affected members can start accessing these…

Group health plan sponsors who offer prescription drug benefits to any Medicare-eligible individual are required to disclose to CMS whether their prescription drug coverage is creditable or non-creditable. This disclosure is required whether the health plan’s coverage is primary or…

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created new reporting requirements under Internal Revenue Code (Code) Sections 6055 and 6056. Under these new reporting rules, certain employers must provide information to the IRS about the health plan coverage they offer (or do…

Members who may have been impacted by the Anthem cyber attack should be aware of scam email campaigns targeting current and former members. These scams are designed to capture personal information (known as “phishing”) and appear as if they are…

Anthem has reported they were targeted by a cyber attack in which member data was accessed. The current and former member information accessed includes names, health ID numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and…

As the individual mandate regarding health insurance is in force for 2014, tax preparation programs and accountants preparing a 2014 tax filing may be asking for proof of a tax filers' health insurance plan meeting minimum essential coverage requirements. The…

Under IRS Code Sections 6055 and 6056, certain employers must provide information to the IRS about the health plan coverage they offer (or do not offer) to their employees, beginning in 2016 for the 2015 calendar year. The reporting will…

Program initially intended to help the poor Pharmaceutical companies are now asking that the 340B program created under the Veterans Health Care act in 1992 be re-evaluated as a result of a study indicating that hospitals are also selling the…

GAO issued opinion that Congress must provide funding A program set up to protect insurance companies should they have major losses from exchange customers is under scrutiny. In what constitutes a bail-out for insurance companies, 14 Republican senators have sent…