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Compliance

This section focuses on health care compliance and regulations – both national and state – including the ACA. It includes changes in health care law, regulation, and court decisions and their impact on health insurance professionals, employers, and individuals.

Face Mask Standard In Workplaces Misses President’s Deadline

The White House’s self-imposed deadline to impose a nationwide face mask standard in workplaces won’t be met, since deliberations are still underway. President Biden on January 21 directed the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to determine by Monday, March 15, if such a standard is needed. An emergency temporary standard on face masks in ...

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CMS Boosts Reimbursement For Administering COVID-19 Vaccinations

The Biden administration on Monday increased how much Medicare pays providers to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to encourage them to vaccinate more people, hire additional staff and do more patient outreach and education. CMS boosted the average payment for COVID-19 immunizations from $28 to $40 for single-dose vaccines and $45 to $80 for two-dose vaccines. But ...

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Pandemic Aid Package Includes Relief From High Premiums

As President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief package steams through Congress, Democrats have hitched a ride for a top health care priority: strengthening the Affordable Care Act with some of the most significant changes to insurance affordability in more than a decade.

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Fauci Says Vaccine Supply Will Be “Dramatically Increased” In Weeks Ahead

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said Sunday that the number of vaccine doses available will sharply rise in the coming weeks following federal approval of a third coronavirus vaccine. “We need to gradually pull back [on restrictions] as we get more people vaccinated, and that is happening every single day, more ...

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COVID Bill to Deliver Big Health Insurance Savings for Many

Several million people stand to save hundreds of dollars in health insurance costs, or more, under the Democratic coronavirus relief legislation on track to pass Congress. Winners include those covered by “Obamacare” or just now signing up, self-employed people who buy their own insurance and don’t currently get federal help, laid-off workers struggling to retain ...

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Biden Aims to Build on Obamacare’s Cost-Cutting Measures

In the decade-plus since it became law, the Affordable Care Act has helped slow the explosive growth in health spending. But the United States still spends about twice as much per capita as other wealthy nations. That leaves President Joe Biden with an enormous health care challenge, beyond leading the country out of the pandemic: curbing health ...

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Drug Companies Plan Tax Breaks To Offset $26 Billion Opioid Settlement

Four of America’s biggest healthcare companies are close to a $26 billion settlement for their role making and distributing highly addictive opioid medications. But critics in Congress say corporate tax breaks could slash the value of the deal by more than $4 billion. “If they get away with it, that means less money going into ...

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Gig Workers Would Pay Higher Taxes Under Coronavirus Aid Bill

A last-minute insert by Democrats looking to offset the cost of their coronavirus aid package would send tax collectors into the gig economy, eventually costing Uber and DoorDash drivers, Airbnb hosts and others about $1 billion annually. Under current law, such online platforms only have to report to the IRS when they pay individuals at ...

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CDC Not Endorsing Travel For Vaccinated Individuals, Saying It Risks A Surge In Cases

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Monday defended her agency’s decision not to endorse travel for vaccinated Americans, saying that, even as the CDC says they can socially gather without masks, increasing travel would add to the number of COVID-19 cases and pose a risk to the majority of the country ...

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Airlines and Travel Groups Urge U.S. to Develop Virus Passport

U.S. airlines, joined by travel groups and labor, urged the Biden administration to take the lead in developing standards for temporary Covid-19 health credentials that would help reopen global travel by documenting vaccinations and test results. The U.S. “must be a leader” in efforts already underway in other regions to implement such travel passports, groups ...

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