Government shortcut?

December 29, 2011

Not a loophole, but a actual shortcut created by the US Department of Health and Human Services. One that helps small businesses navigate the healthcare market. This new tool allows small business owners to compare the benefits and costs of health plans across a variety of parameters, a service that we have always offered our clients [...]

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Average cost of individual health premiums by state

September 12, 2011

Data from 2010, courtesy of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Click here for the interactive chart. California data is PPO only, though if HMO’s were included, the average rate would increase significantly. A California individual PPO plan is close to the cheapest, private health insurance anywhere in the country.

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Should birth control be free?

July 21, 2011

8/2/11 – update Multiple news organizations are reporting that the Health and Human Services Department is adopting the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations, adding birth control, and a number of other childbirth-related services to the “preventive care” definition. Health care legislation now requires all preventive care to be provided at no cost to subscribers. Newsy.com provides [...]

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The San Francisco HCSO “loophole”

July 19, 2011

After attending the Thursday, July 14 public hearing of the Government Oversight and Audit committee, I wrote the following email to Supervisor David Campos (as well as committee members Farrell and Chiu and my home district Sup. Cohen). As with my previous email, it has also gone unanswered. I blame my long-windedness. Dear Supervisors Campos, [...]

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A letter to San Francisco Supervisor David Campos

July 19, 2011

San Francisco Supervisor David Campos has proposed amending the groundbreaking Health Care Security Ordinance, eliminating the use of Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) and employer-funded Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) as a compliance option. Here is the full text of the yet-unanswered email I sent on July 12, 2011. District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen was also addressed, [...]

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Arts Education for San Francisco Youth

March 10, 2011

Root Division is an arts non-profit located in San Francisco’s Mission District. Their resident artists volunteer time at several San Francisco schools, providing 10 weeks of after-school arts education to 250 kids who otherwise would miss out on a truly valuable learning experience about art, creativity… and fun. Check out the short video below. Root [...]

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Happy New Year – 2011 Health Care Changes for Individuals and Families

January 1, 2011

A number of new provisions under the new health care legislation go into effect January 1, 2011.  Guaranteed coverage for children under the age of 19 is now available in California, and parents may add adult children up to age 26 to their plan. ABC News offers a good summary, text here and video below.

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Interactive Timeline for Healthcare Reform

December 15, 2010

A great resource from Employee Benefit News. Individuals, families and small businesses get an easy-access timeline for health insurance and other health care reform changes.

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Small business heath care tax credit: a mirage?

October 27, 2010

One of the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) initially looked like it could be a huge boon to small businesses: a tax credit for dollars spent on employee health care.  Kaiser Health News has a very good summary of the tax credit, here. We wrote about this back in April; [...]

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Effective date of CLASS Act is uncertain

October 27, 2010

One of the oft-missed early provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was the establishment of a national long-term care program, to help people defray the cost of supported living in their later years.  Initial reports indicated that employers would need to implement the program beginning January 1, 2011 but that deadline [...]

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