Over the past week, the IRS issued a notice addressing how employers should determine whether employees are full time or part time; the IRS, Department of Labor and HHS jointly released a notice addressing how the 90-day waiting period limit for employment-based health insurance enacted by PPACA would be applied; and CMS awarded Connecticut a $107 million Level-Two Establishment Grant.
AT THE AGENCIES
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said the federal government approved New Hampshire's plan to implement Medicaid managed care. Under the managed care approach, the state will work with three managed care organizations, which will be responsible for coordinating all health care services for enrollees through a network of providers.
CMS awarded Connecticut a $107 million Level-Two Establishment Grant. To this point, only Connecticut, Washington, Rhode Island, Maryland, Nevada and Vermont have received such grants. Much of the grant money will be spent on the state exchange's information technology systems and operations plan.
On Friday (8/31), the IRS released Notice 2012-58, which offers guidance on how full-time employment status will be determined when deciding whether an employer owes a tax penalty for failing to provide health insurance to full-time employees under the Affordable Care Act.
On Friday (8/31), the IRS, Department of Labor and HHS jointly released notice 2012-59 to address the question of how the 90-day waiting period limit for employment-based health insurance enacted by the Affordable Care Act would be applied. The notice says that an employer who offers health insurance must cover a new full-time employee no later than 90 days after employment begins.
IN THE ELECTION
A number of speakers at the Republican National Convention last week addressed health care reform. Vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan argued that the Affordable Care Act took money from Medicare, eventually concluding that, "The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it!"
IN THE STATES
On Tuesday (8/28), Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said he would not expand his state's Medicaid rolls with funds from the Affordable Care Act.
IN THIRD PARTIES
The Essential Health Benefits Coalition, made up of employer trade associations, pharmacy benefit managers and health plans, urged federal health officials to give health plans flexibility as they develop benefit packages to comply with essential health benefit rules under the Affordable Care Act.
UPCOMING EVENTS
On Monday (9/10) at 12:15 p.m. in G-20 Dirksen, the Alliance for Health Reform will host a briefing titled, "The Alphabet Soup of Care Delivery Transformation." RSVP by noon on Friday, September 7, but if registration reaches the venue's capacity, registration will close before this time.
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.