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Updated Thursday, March 25, 2010 Since President Barack Obama signed part of an expansive health care reform package into law on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, employers should prepare for many changes to their health and benefits plans. The President signed the U.S. Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), which the U.S. House […]
Yesterday, congressional Democrats released the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), a compromise bill designed to provide a package of “fixes” to the U.S. Senate’s original health care reform bill — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). Similar to the original Senate bill, there are several provisions […]
This week, Democrats have been moving full steam ahead toward passage of health care reform legislation that would affect employers in many ways. Since the Democrats lost their supermajority in the U.S. Senate, many of their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives want to pass the Senate’s version of health care reform so the […]
I came away from last week’s health care summit scratching my head. What exactly was accomplished that moved our country one step closer to resolution of the health care debate? From what I can tell, absolutely nothing. There was certainly plenty of posturing. Both Democrats and Republicans pretended to be interested in working with the […]
Days after President Barack Obama released his own health care reform proposal, he presided over a health care reform summit on Thursday that both Democrats and Republicans attended. The summit was supposed to help the parties find common ground on the issue of health care reform and allow them to discuss their views. Although the […]
This morning, President Barack Obama released a health care reform proposal that “bridges the gap between the House and Senate bills.” The President released his proposal in advance of the upcoming televised health care summit on Thursday, February 25, and White House officials have noted that the proposal will serve as the starting point for […]
By Michael Leahy With news of Republican Scott Brown’s victory in a special election held to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s term, many employers are wondering what the future holds for health care reform. The answer is, it’s still coming. Last year, the Senate and House each passed their own health care reform bills […]
Today marks the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s Inaugural, and my guess is that he’s not doing a lot of celebrating. That’s because yesterday, in a special Senate election to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s seat, Massachusetts voters elected a Republican to represent them. President Obama and Democrats across the country must be asking themselves […]
The White House reportedly reached a deal with organized labor on Thursday over the controversial “Cadillac” tax found in the U.S. Senate’s health care reform bill. The original provision in the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) creates a tax on employer-sponsored high-end “Cadillac” coverage. Under the original provision, the tax would […]
Employers are still trying to understand how the U.S. Senate’s Christmas present to the nation — a 2,074 page health care reform bill topped with a 383-page manager’s amendment — will affect them and their employees. (During a highly unusual Christmas Eve session, the Senate passed the bill in a 60-39 party-line vote.) Before the […]