Covered California on Tuesday announced that health insurance rates on the state’s health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act will increase by an average rate of 12.5 percent for 2018 plans.

Administering a health and welfare benefit plan means keeping up with deadlines, and that can be a challenge. It also means planning well in advance for each new plan year and open enrollment period--and for employers with calendar year plans, that work is now underway. This newsletter highlights some deadlines and regulatory guidance available to assist employers and benefit professionals with these tasks.

Obamacare remains the law of the land, for now, perhaps nowhere more securely than in California.

When Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) halted a measure to establish single-payer healthcare in California, the bill's most dedicated backers immediately called for him to be removed from office.

The Senate's top Democrat accused President Donald Trump on Tuesday of childish behavior by threatening to halt federal payments that help millions afford health coverage, saying such a move would impose a "Trump premium tax" by forcing consumers' insurance costs upward.

President Trump on Saturday scolded Congress for looking “like fools” and urged Republican senators not to be “total quitters” as he insisted that his push to overhaul the nation’s health care law remained viable, the day after it was rejected by the Senate.