Articles

In order to support a permanent extension of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, the American Hospital Association has drafted a letter to congressional leaders along with the five other national organizations that include the American Medical Association, AHIP, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Federation of American Hospitals and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

While the country is reeling from more than 130,000 COVID-19 deaths and the most significant recession since the Great Depression, several Republican-led states and the Justice Department are making the case for invalidating the Affordable Care Act (ACA), taking health insurance away from 27 million Americans and leaving at least 54 million with preexisting health conditions potentially uninsurable.

Employees have an extended timeframe to, in part, elect COBRA, make COBRA payments, add dependents, and appeal denials of benefits. As the timeframe may extend beyond the current plan year, in some cases with coverage going into effect retroactively for many months, there are concerns about what gaps in insurance coverage there could be. This may particularly be an issue with stop loss insurance.

On September 17, 2020, California Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1159 into law. The new state law, which has an immediate effect, applies if an employee in California has a COVID-19-related illness during the period beginning March 19, 2020 and ending December 31, 2022. During this period, the employee’s COVID-19-related illness is presumed to arise out of and in the course of employment and will be covered by the state workers’ compensation system if certain additional requirements are met (unless the presumption is controverted by other evidence).

The stage is all set for a renewed legal battle against Affordable Care Act (ACA). On November 10th, a week after the presidential elections, the Supreme court will hear arguments as to whether the ACA should remain the law or be stricken down. This is as per the Supreme court's argument calendar. However, the final ruling is still not expected...