CLAIMSMED
  • Home
  • Features
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Consulting
    • Security
    • About
  • Services
    • Provider Credentialing
    • Medical Billing Services
    • Denial Management
  • Request a Quote
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • WIKI
  • Multimedia
  • Login

21st Century Cures Act: Small Employers Have New Health Reimbursement Choice Under the Act

1/5/2017

0 Comments

 
The latest Act i.e. 21st Century Cures Act (Cures) signed by President Barack Obama on the day of Dec. 13, 2016, contains a smorgasbord of health-related provisions and regulations, from reforming federal mental health plans to increasing funding for medical research. Tucked away near the end of the voluminous law is a significant provision that permits small employers to assist their workers with the charges of medical-care expenses, involving premiums for individual health policies, through the utilization of Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs).
Employer-funded medical reimbursement plans, HRAs, have been utilized by employers for years; however their use has been recently restricted. After the enforcement of the ACA (Affordable Care Act), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) declared that an HRA must be integrated with a group health plan that gives coverage that satisfies the market reforms of ACA for those plans or the employer will be subject to a $100 each day, each worker tax. The rule of IRS was premised on the logic that a stand-alone HRA was a group health plan. Hence, HRAs were subject to the market reforms of ACA, involving the need that a group health plan can’t develop an annual limit on the dollar amount of benefits for any person.
The 21st century Cure Act (Cures) overturns the guidance of IRS in that it allows the utilization of Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements (QSEHRAs), effective on the day of Jan. 1, 2017. Another thing, to qualify as a QSEHRA, the funds must be invested solely by the employer, must be given to entire workers/employees on the similar terms and can merely be made up to certain annually maximum amounts. Just small employers can take benefit of this latest option – basically those with less than fifty full-time or full-time equivalent employees.
However, the capability to give QSEHRAs is surely welcome news to small employers; the timing of the provision is fascinating provided the uncertainty of ACA. Although, it seems that more flexibility for employers via the utilization of HRAs will be supported by decision-makers in the Washington, D.C., as key part of any latest legislation that replaces the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    ACO
    Announcement
    Audit
    Billing
    CHIP
    CMS
    Coding
    Collections
    Credentialing
    ECQM
    EHR
    ER
    Healthcare
    ICD 10
    ICD-10
    MACRA
    Meaningful Use
    Medicare
    Modifiers
    Outsourcing
    PQRS
    Reimbursements
    Start Up
    Telemedicine
    Urgent Care

    RSS Feed

Services

Provider Credentialing
Medical Billing
Appeal and Denial Management
Pricing
Get A Quote

Company

About Us

Support

Contact
Wiki
Blog
Privacy Policy
Call Us Today
713-893-4773
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Features
    • Why Choose Us?
    • Consulting
    • Security
    • About
  • Services
    • Provider Credentialing
    • Medical Billing Services
    • Denial Management
  • Request a Quote
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • WIKI
  • Multimedia
  • Login