News

Though considered the most expensive of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act metal health coverage plans, platinum plans for certain consumers may be the most economical option. When it comes to covering the cost of specialty drugs, platinum plans offer the lowest out-of-pocket cost to the consumer, according to a HealthPocket study of public […]

Nearly half of all workers in California don’t get a single paid sick day from their employers. Additionally, this state of affairs is far worse for some classes of employees than others. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that, among the overall 44 percent of California adult workers who don’t get a paid sick […]

Disability benefits producers who market absence management services are discovering a frightening truth: As complicated as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and other state and federal leave laws are, understanding them is just one step on an ankle-twisting path. In addition to tripping up employers all on their own, leave laws interact with […]

The halls of Congress continue to resound with the clashing of ideological swords, and that cacophony will only become louder as the fall elections draw near. What are the owners of small businesses keeping an eye on during this election season? Paychex, the payroll company that serves myriad small businesses, took the pulse of some […]

The Morning Consult discusses a poll today on people’s views of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It looks like people are moderately afraid of “employer dumping” — employers terminating benefits and forcing employees to buy insurance policies on the exchanges. Most of them seem to think that this would have a somewhat or […]

The Finns do it. The Germans do it. Even the Portuguese and Greeks do it. Across most of the developed world, single-payer, universally available health care is the norm. Legislators briefly considered single-payer coverage in the United States during the health care debates, but ultimately settled on the hybrid public/private solution that is the Patient […]

Health savings accounts have grown to an estimated $22.8 billion in assets and roughly 11.8 million accounts as of the end of June, according to the latest figures from Devenir. The investment consulting firm said that’s a year over year increase of 26 percent for HSA assets and 29 percent for accounts. “Accountholders are both […]

There are now so many exemptions to PPACA’s individual mandate that the CBO says the number who would face fines for lack of coverage has dropped from seven million to four million. That means that almost 90 percent of the nation’s uninsured population would not have to pay a penalty under PPACA in 2016, according […]

Most consumers believe subsidies should be legal on both the state-based and federal exchanges, according to a new poll. The study, out this week from Morning Consult, found that 58 percent of registered voters think all subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges — whether they’re state or federal run — should […]

Those four-letter federal employment statutes — FMLA and FLSA — can be a real pain in the neck, amirite? Today, let’s focus on a major employer pitfall: intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA regulations define intermittently leave this way: “FMLA leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule under […]