You’ve probably heard a lot about opioids lately, and for good reason—the CDC estimates that more than 115 people die from opioid overdoses every day.

One of the biggest reasons for widespread misuse of these drugs is that they’re both effective at short-term pain management and highly addictive.

Luckily, to combat what some now call the “opioid epidemic,” researchers from the American College of Physicians (ACP) have published guidelines that promote alternative noninvasive and therapy-based pain treatments.

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Tags: Benefits, Health Insurance, Opioid, Opioid overdose, Treating Pain, Opioids, Opioid Crisis, Pain Management

On May 21, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Procedure 2018-34 to index the contribution percentages in 2019 for purposes of determining affordability of an employer’s plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

For plan years beginning in 2019, employer-sponsored coverage will be considered affordable if the employee’s required contribution for self-only coverage does not exceed:

• 9.86 percent of the employee’s household income for the year, for purposes of both the pay or play rules and premium tax credit eligibility and
• 8.3 percent of the employee’s household income for the year, for purposes of an individual mandate exemption (adjusted under separate guidance).

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Tags: Health Insurance, Employers, Obamacare, ACA, Employees, ACA Compliance, Affordability Percentages, Percentage Increase

Each year, the IRS announces inflation-adjusted limits for HSAs and HDHPs.

The adjusted contribution limits for HSAs take effect as of Jan. 1, 2019.

The adjusted HDHP cost-sharing limits (minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket) take effect for the plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2019.

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Tags: Benefits, Health Insurance, IRS, HSA, Health Savings Account, HSA Limit, 2019 HSA Limit, 2019 Limit, HDHP

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The U.S. Internal Revenue Service will no longer require tax filers to indicate whether they had health coverage or paid a penalty set under Obamacare, dealing a blow to a pillar of the healthcare law, the website Reason.com reported.

Republican President Donald Trump, who has pledged to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, signed an order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, to freeze regulations and take other steps to weaken the law known as Obamacare.

Republicans, who have the majority in Congress, are trying to craft a replacement for the law enacted by former Democratic president Barack Obama. Twenty million Americans gained health insurance under the law.

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Tags: Health Insurance, New Legislation, IRS

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Tags: Benefits, Health Insurance, Health Plan