Legislation

Mental Health Parity Bill Passes Assembly Health Committee

A Mental Health Parity bill (SB 855) passed the Assembly Health Committee. It would require insurance companies to cover all medically necessary mental health care including early intervention and sub...

President Signs Families First Coronavirus Response Act Into Law

President Trump signed H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), into law last night, which assists working families impacted by COVID-19. The law includes several provisions to ...

California Bills Would Make Insurers Cover More Mental Health Care

State Senators Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, co-authored two bills that address California’s growing mental health and addiction crises — SB 854 and SB 855. Strengtheni...

New CA Domestic Partners Definition Goes Into Effect January 1

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 30 on July 30, 2019, allowing all couples to enter into domestic partnerships. Previously domestic partnership in California was only open to same-s...

Congress Repeals Cadillac Tax and HIT

Congress passed an end-of-year spending bill, which includes a permanent repeal of two very unpopular ACA taxes: the Cadillac tax on high-cost health plans and the health insurance tax (HIT) on fully ...

UnitedHealthcare Offers Special Enrollment Due to CA Individual Mandate SB78

UnitedHealthcare is offering special open enrollment for employees, and their dependents, who previously declined coverage in 2019. They can enroll for January 1, 2020 coverage. On June 27, 2019, ...

Governor Signs Health Insurance Bills

Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the following two bills that affect the health insurance industry: Dialysis Reimbursement Limits — AB 290: The new law limits the private-insurance reimburs...

Drug Companies to Pay California $70 Million for Delaying Cheaper Meds

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced settlements against pharmaceutical companies for illegally delaying generics. The companies will pay the state nearly $70 million. It includes the ...

Raise Your Voice to Reform ACA Reporting!

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) reintroduced S. 2366 to reform the ACA’s employer reporting requirements. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the House ...

Senate Delays Vote on Broker Commissions & Surprise Billing

The Senate will wait until after the August recess to vote on the Lower Health Care Costs Act, which was introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The bill includes t...

House Passes Full Repeal of ACA's Cadillac Tax

The House of Representatives voted 419-6 to pass H.R. 748, a bill to fully repeal the ACA's Cadillac Excise Tax. It will next be considered by the Senate, where a companion bill, S. 684, has 42 bipart...

Final Rule Allows HRAs to Subsidize Individual Plans

by Ken Doyle If you serve employee groups of under 20, you’ll want to watch a new HRA final rule that goes into effect in January 2020. Companies will be able to use HRAs to subsidize workers to bu...