04.15.2014

Obamacare News of the Day

Wall Street Journal: Odd-Hour Workers Face Loss of Employer Health Plans Redrawn Lines Between Full- and Part-Timers at Sodexo Decide Who Is Eligible for Coverage

Thousands of these so-called variable-hour employees—many of whom work on college campuses that don't operate during summer months—could lose their benefits as employers use new formulas to classify workers as full time or part time. The distinction determines which employees are entitled to company-sponsored health coverage.
A large portion of Sodexo's 125,000 U.S. workers are variable, and about 10,000 of them are losing access to health insurance, paid vacation and sick days and other benefits available to full-timers. Sodexo says it has taken steps to ease the strain on workers, but avers that the new formula lets it manage costs and stay competitive in a business driven by low-margin contracts. Other employers are likely to follow Sodexo's lead in reclassifying workers as they get closer to the ACA's Jan. 1, 2015 compliance deadline
About 68% of U.S. employers have variable-hour workers, according to benefits consulting firm Mercer LLC, with most of them in the hospitality, retail and education industries.

New York Times: Census Survey Revisions Mask Health Law Effects [so after Obamacare becomes law, the Census Bureau decides to employ a more accurate method - which effectively lowers the cited figure of the uninsured - for determining the number of the uninsured]

The Census Bureau, the authoritative source of health insurance data for more than three decades, is changing its annual survey so thoroughly that it will be difficult to measure the effects of President Obama’s health care law in the next report, due this fall, census officials said.
The changes are intended to improve the accuracy of the survey, being conducted this month in interviews with tens of thousands of households around the country. But the new questions are so different that the findings will not be comparable, the officials said.
Census officials and researchers have long expressed concerns about the old version of insurance questions in the Current Population Survey. The questionnaire traditionally used by the Census Bureau provides an “inflated estimate of the uninsured” and is prone to “measurement errors,” said a working paper by statisticians and demographers at the agency.
In the test last year, the percentage of people without health insurance was 10.6 percent when interviewers used the new questionnaire, compared with 12.5 percent using the old version. Researchers said that they had found a similar pattern in the data for different age, race and ethnic groups.
[RELATED] Washington Examiner: Jay Carney: No timetable for releasing information about Obamacare sign-ups
- The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “are working to crunch the numbers and assess the data and collect it in a way that provides as much information as possible,” he said Monday during his daily briefing with reporters. “I don't have a timetable for when that would happen,” he added.
- Carney also noted that the timeline for releasing demographic information and details, such as who among the 7.5 million have paid their first month's insurance premium, is different than the timing for the administration's push to have the Senate confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next HHS secretary.

Washington Examiner: Complaint suggests HUD may have inappropriately promoted Obamacare

In letters sent Monday to the inspectors general of HUD and the Department of Health and Human Services, Cause of Action said “HUD had improperly expended congressional appropriations to implement a program for which HUD has no statutory authority.” The allegations were based on documents obtained by the group in a Freedom of Information Act request for information similar to that detailed in an August 2013 report from the Washington Examiner. The documents included a PowerPoint presentation detailing HUD's involvement in the implementation and promotion of Obamacare.
The presentation outlined a rollout plan for Obamacare, beginning with “outreach to uninsured individuals, specifically the ‘young and healthy’ ” and providing “high level messaging/education on health insurance literacy and the value of insurance.” The presentation suggested using “social media, online communication [and] cell phones” to reach the uninsured.
HUD employees were tasked to “provide information and encourage participation in training (as appropriate)” to public housing directors, housing counselors and many others involved in HUD’s regular activities. Information about Obamacare was to be posted on program websites such as the “Public Housing portal” and the “Homelessness Resource Exchange.”
HUD employees were also asked to “encourage industry groups and other stakeholders to contact/inform their members” and to “provide information at conferences/public events.”

New York Times: Tax Preparers' New Role: Health-Coverage Advisers

The tax system provides both the carrot and the stick for people to obtain coverage. Tax preparers like Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block say they have helped tens of thousands of people apply for tax credits to help defray the cost of private insurance bought through the exchanges. In addition, the big tax service companies and makers of tax preparation software like Intuit’s TurboTax are calculating potential penalties for those who do not have insurance.
“It’s a tremendous business opportunity,” said Brian Haile, senior vice president for health policy at Jackson Hewitt. “We can do well by doing good.” Major provisions of the health care law — the requirement for people to carry insurance and for larger employers to offer it, as well as the subsidies to help pay for it — were written as amendments to the Internal Revenue Code.
“A substantial number of people will be surprised,” said Catherine E. Livingston, who was the health care counsel at the I.R.S. from 2010 to 2013. “If you have an increase in income this year, it could mean that you will owe money to the government when you file your tax return next April. Or you may receive a smaller refund.”

Politico Pro: INSURERS WANT ANOTHER BITE OF OBAMACARE

That’s right — the insurance industry wants seconds, now that it’s gotten its first taste. Things didn’t look so bright when HealthCare.gov flopped last fall, but now insurers around the country are considering expanding their stake in the exchanges next year, bringing their business to more states and counties. Some health plans that skipped the new marketplaces altogether are ready to dive in next year. At least two major national insurers intend to expand their offerings and none of the big-name insurers have signaled plans to shrink their presence or bail altogether despite the rocky start.