Recent Articles
Obamacare 2014 Plan Deadline Extended
The Obama administration confirmed to The Washington Post a little bit ago that it is indeed tweaking the way the individual mandate works as to not penalize anyone who purchases coverage during this first open enrollment period. It's not quite right to describe this...
Obamacare Illinois Rates Released
The federal department overseeing President Obama's health care overhaul has published a database of insurance plan rates for counties in 34 states, including the 102 in Illinois. The Quinn administration has declined to release such detailed information, which...
Small Employer Exchange Delayed
The Exchanges are scheduled to open this Tuesday, but regulators announced today that there will be some delays to the Small Business Health Options Program, also known as the SHOP Exchange. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are still expected to have the ability...
Governor Quinn Announces Health Plan Rates are 25 Percent Below HHS Estimates
95 Percent of Illinois Residents will have Access to at Least 34 Plans Rates Will Be as Low as $120 Per Month for a 25-year-old in Chicago
Illinois Obamacare Rates Still Not Released
With less than three weeks left until a key launch date for the nation's health care law, Illinois residents planning to shop for health insurance on a new online marketplace still don't know which companies will offer plans or what the policies will cost. The...
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois to stop accepting individual applications
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois will only accept applications for new non-temporary short term polices through the end of the day on Friday, August 30th for a 2013 effective date. The last available effective date for any new non medicare individual and family health...
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois to Discontinue Maternity Rider
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois has made the business decision to discontinue sales of its maternity rider for new and existing individual policies effective July 15, 2013. Requests for maternity coverage received after July 14, 2013, will not be processed....
Affordable Care Act Postpones Employer Penalty
Obamacare faced another significant setback yesterday when the administration announced it would delay the implementation of the employer penalties by a year until 2015. The Obama team bowed to complaints from business groups about the impact the law would have on...
What the Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act Ruling Means for Employers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. vs. Windsor to strike down DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) frees employers from a number of financial and administrative burdens, but it raises other issues for employers on how to navigate the patchwork of state laws...
IRS Releases 2014 HSA Limits
The maximum contributions that can be made to health savings accounts in 2014 will rise slightly. The following data for 2014 was recently released by the IRS for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): The maximum contribution that can be made to an HSA in 2014 is $3,300 for...