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Leading ACA Marketplace Issuers Use XpandHCR to Calculate CSR Reimbursements

February 9, 2016, 5:04 am
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Acero Software Processes Over 10% of 2015 ACA Members to Reconcile ACA Subsidies

Lorton, VA (PRWEB) February 09, 2016

Acero Health Technologies, an innovative software solution provider to national and regional health insurance companies, is pleased to announce the completion of another successful year of growth supporting clients participating in the federal and state-based ACA Health Insurance Marketplaces.

In 2015, well over a million Marketplace members processed through Acero’s XpandHCR™ software application. Acero’s software helped clients accurately identify eligible cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidy amounts incurred in 2015 well before CMS’ mandated, annual reconciliation filing.

In 2016, Acero projects clients will use XpandHCR to calculate CSR amounts for approximately two million individual Marketplace members, representing over 15% of all enrollment.

Acero’s XpandHCR addresses an issuer’s financial risk by calculating, in synchronization with an issuer’s core administrative systems, incurred cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies or receivables according to the federal government’s “CSR standard calculation” method.

Acero’s XpandHCR software processes claims data either in real-time or retrospectively to determine the percentage of an issuer’s plan payments that are eligible for federal or state reimbursement. Using the software’s configuration flexibility, issuers control the timing of the CSR processing to synchronize it with the issuer’s internal financial reporting requirements. Depending on the client, CSR processing may occur concurrently, monthly, or annually.

In addition to the CSR aggregate data, Acero’s dynamic, scalable solution also provides the issuer with the underlying transactional data to support granular auditing for how calculations occurred at a claim line-level — a requirement for audit accuracy.

While CMS offered issuers an interim, CSR “simplified calculation” method for 2014 and 2015, the “standard calculation” results quickly demonstrated to Acero’s clients how much federal and state reimbursements might be lost due to limitations in the “simplified” method formulas. Beginning in 2017, all issuers must comply with the CSR “standard” method.

“While we’re pleased with our 2015 results, we also thrilled that clients see a direct financial benefit from using our software. We look forward to continuing our partnership with our clients to enhance our solution,” said Alan Merchant, CEO of Acero Health Technologies.

For more information about XpandHCR, go to http://www.acerohealth.com/products/xpandHCR, or to speak with someone from our sales team about an online demonstration, please e-mail our marketing team (marketing(at)acerohealth(dot)com).

About Acero Health Technologies
Acero Health Technologies, an innovative information technology company, offers robust transactional software solutions to health insurance issuers. Acero’s solutions provide issuers with the means to leverage existing systems in solving for new business and regulatory challenges. The Acero team has significant insurance and technical experience developing sophisticated, enterprise software solutions for benefits administrators. Acero’s PlanXpand® engine powers several technology solutions including XpandCDH™, a powerful tool for issuer-administered consumer-driven health plans, and XpandACC™ an application that facilitates real-time integration of shared accumulators across multiple benefit administrative systems. For more information, visit http://www.acerohealth.com. Reported by PRWeb 16 hours ago.
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Obama Makes One Last Bid To Save Controversial Obamacare Tax

February 9, 2016, 7:28 am
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President Barack Obama is making one last attempt to save the “Cadillac tax,” even though he knows he won’t be able to finish the job before leaving office.

The Cadillac tax is a surcharge on expensive health care plans, designed to raise revenue and, more importantly, to hold down spending on medical care. It became law as part of the Affordable Care Act and was originally scheduled to take effect in 2018. But the tax was almost instantly unpopular. In December, Congress voted to push back the introduction, and Obama reluctantly went along.

Now, the tax is not supposed to take effect until 2020. Most observers expect that, at some point, Congress will push back the starting date even farther into the future -- a pattern likely to repeat itself over and over again, so that the tax never actually takes effect.

But the administration isn’t quite ready to give up. The president’s budget, which becomes public on Tuesday, includes a proposal to modify the Cadillac tax in ways that would address several key objections to it. And while nobody expects Congress to act on the White House proposal this year, the proposal could start a conversation that carries over into the next administration.

Leading presidential candidates from both parties have come out against the tax, although several have indicated -- or at least hinted -- that they’d like to find some policy alternative that pursues the same basic goals.

It’s not hard to see why. The Cadillac tax represents an effort to scale back the “employer tax exclusion,” a provision of the tax code that effectively makes a dollar of insurance premiums more valuable than a dollar of wages. The exclusion, which has been in place since the 1940s, is one reason that so many employers started offering health benefits -- and why employer coverage is still the dominant method of coverage today.

But economists have long argued that the exclusion has negative side effects. For one thing, they point out, it’s highly regressive: Somebody making $300,000 gets a much bigger benefit than somebody making $30,000. And by giving artificial incentive for workers to take health insurance instead of wages, economists believe, the exclusion ends up driving up the consumption of expensive health care services, which leads to higher premiums and lower wages.

The Cadillac tax seeks to reduce these incentives for expensive plans, albeit in a roundabout way -- namely, imposing a financial penalty on the most expensive plans. That has made the tax highly unpopular with the unions that negotiated generous plans for their members, as well as with many employers.


The proposal deserves 'serious consideration.'
Paul Van de Water, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
A major objection from these groups is that the tax doesn’t take geography into account. Because the dollar threshold for the tax is uniform nationally, it’s bound to affect many more people in a place like New Jersey, which has the highest employer premiums it the continental U.S., than in Arkansas, which has the lowest.

Another criticism is about the formula itself. Over time, the dollar threshold for when the tax takes effect is supposed to rise and fall with inflation. But that’s general inflation, not health care inflation specifically, and the price of consumer goods overall tends to rise more slowly than the price of medical care. From the perspective of most Americans, then, the dollar threshold for when the tax takes effect would seem to get lower and lower, potentially exposing more and more plans to the surcharge.

The administration’s proposal, which White House economists Jason Furman and Matthew Fiedler outlined last week in an article for the New England Journal of Medicine, would alter that formula. Specifically, it would set a different threshold for each state -- and tie that threshold to the value of “gold” level plans that the Affordable Care Act makes available to consumers buying insurance on their own through the law’s new marketplaces.

In principle, this would address the geographic disparity issue, since the threshold would end up higher in states where insurance is already more expensive. It would also tie the tax to health care inflation, rather than the price of all consumer goods.

Economists are already praising the proposal as a smart way to salvage the tax, while blunting some of its adverse effects and, potentially, softening the political opposition. Paul Van de Water, senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a well-respected, left-leaning think tank, said the proposal deserves “serious consideration.” Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, noted that most economists believe the tax would ultimately raise wages, since employers would be putting less money into health insurance premiums.

But one other objection to the tax is that workers won’t actually see those gains, at least not right away. Unions, in particular, have said that their workers simply end up with skimpier health insurance, typically in the form of higher co-payments or deductibles -- and that they can’t get better wages in return. At a time when consumers worry as much about out-of-pocket expenses as premiums, that argument resonates. 

In the New England Journal article, Furman and Fiedler address that issue, asserting that employers already realize that simply shifting costs onto employees is unpopular, making it harder to attract workers.

“Higher cost sharing will therefore probably play a much smaller role than many observers have assumed,” the two economists write. “Many employers will probably focus instead on encouraging more efficient care delivery, by deploying innovative payment models, directly complementing public-sector efforts, and finding creative ways to steer patients toward more efficient providers -- investments that were often difficult to justify when the federal government was picking up much of the tab for inefficient care.”

Whether employers would actually react that way, rather than simply shifting costs onto employees as higher deductibles or co-pays, is an open question and a very important one. New studies have reinforced worries that excessive out-of-pocket costs can lead consumers to forgo care they actually need while imposing additional financial hardship on people with chronic disease.

But the administration’s proposal can get elected officials, policy experts and leaders from both business and labor talking about how to balance these competing priorities. With nearly four years to go before the tax takes effect, they have plenty of time.

*Also on HuffPost:*

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 14 hours ago.
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Wonkblog: Why Silicon Valley keeps stumbling on health care

February 9, 2016, 10:35 am
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Zenefits was reportedly one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley, a region famous for giving birth to companies that undergo tremendous growth spurts. The startup, which distributes free administrative software to businesses and works as a health insurance broker, was dealt a serious blow last fall when a BuzzFeed News investigation revealed that the company had not been obtaining licenses necessary to sell insurance in individual states. Yesterday, the company announced that its chief executive, Parker Conrad, had stepped down and that it was making regulatory compliance a priority. Reported by Washington Post 10 hours ago.
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Tax Season is Rolling Along - Smoothly Now!

February 9, 2016, 10:38 am
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Every tax season is unique and 2016 is shaping up to be one for the record books. We dodged a bullet with the new tax law legislation that passed "early" in late December, which allowed an on time start to tax season without many changes to systems because the extenders passed - again. Even with that big issue avoided, there have been other issues during the start of tax season that may have concerned some taxpayers. Some companies reported delays to issuing select new ACA or Affordable Care Act forms, Wage and Tax Statements or Forms W-2 for some companies were sent a bit later this year, IRS even had a total system crash last week stopping all tax returns from being processed for over a day, and tax refunds seem to be slower this year than last. All taken together, you could get a little worried about filing your taxes this year.

However there is light at the end of the tunnel and the best idea is still to file as early as you can. The good news is the IRS says 9 out of 10 filers will get their refund in less than 21 days from the time their return is received. This year, with plenty of deductions and tax credits still in place - 75 percent of filers will get a refund of almost $3,000 per return. Further, even with the IRS system outage - it was only one day, all things are processing as fast as ever, and tax returns and refunds are continuing to be processed. It has been reported that most other documents needed before filing, including Forms W-2, 1099, and even the ACA statements from the Healthcare Marketplaces, have been sent to the taxpayers who need them. Even those other ACA healthcare forms, 1095 B and 1095 C, are mostly out and those are not even needed to complete and file a tax return.

In summary what does this mean for you? If you have filed your tax return already, good job! Check your return over, or have a tax pro check it over, to make sure you didn't leave any money on the table. Many taxpayers leave off deductions and credits just because they don't know about them, but more about this next week.

If you haven't filed your tax return yet, what do you need to know?
· Gather all your income statements - all W-2s and 1099s have been mailed by now. If you have not received a form you are expecting, contact the issuer and verify it has been sent. You can ask for a copy to be resent.· Review your healthcare forms - either your Form 1095 A, B, or C. If your health insurance is subsidized through the Marketplace - Forms 1095-A have been mailed! If you are still waiting on your 1095 B or 1095 C there is no need to worry since in most cases you can still get your taxes complete even without that form.· File as soon as you can - by e-filing as early as possible and using direct deposit, you help secure your personal information.· Get help if you need it - most tax offices are fully staffed and ready to help get your taxes done. IRS is processing fully and refunds are being issued, which means taxpayers are getting their money
If you were one of those folks waiting to file your taxes to see how this unusual tax season start was going to pan out - now is the time to file. Tax pros understand the tax law changes, required documents should be in your hands, and the IRS systems are fixed. There are no more reasons to wait for your money.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.
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Do You Qualify For New Health Insurance Tax Credit?

February 9, 2016, 12:27 pm
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The Premium Tax Credit (PTC) may sound like it is a credit only available to top-tier incomes, but it is actually quite the opposite. "Premium" in this case refers to health care premiums, and PTC is a way to help those with relatively low incomes to afford health insurance premiums and avoid the potential penalties (and health hazards) of having no health insurance at all.

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Eligibility for the Premium Tax Credit

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If you purchased your health insurance through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace or anyone else included on your federal tax return did so, then you may qualify for the PTC. It is the rare tax credit that is both refundable and payable in advance. You may qualify for the credit even if you pay no taxes, and the credit can be supplied in advance to your insurance company to help lower the cost of your monthly premiums.

You must have a sufficiently low income to qualify, generally between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty line for your family size (for 2016, the levels for a family of four are $24,250 to $97,000). You also cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, be able to get suitable coverage through an employer plan that meets eligibility requirements, or be eligible for coverage via other government programs such as Medicaid/Medicare. Note that state Medicaid eligibility expansion could reduce your ability to qualify for the PTC.
More: Tax Breaks for the Young

It is also important to file your taxes to receive the credit even though you may not owe any taxes. Failing to file has a double penalty effect -- it not only keeps you from claiming your credit in the filing year, it can disqualify you from receiving advance credits in future years. Filing status can be single or married filing jointly, but not married filing separately (with a few exceptions).

Once you apply for coverage at Healthcare.gov, you will receive an estimate of your PTC based on projections of your income and family parameters for the year. If you choose to take your credit in advance, you will have to make an end-of-year adjustment for tax purposes if your income varies and/or your family size changes during the year. Use IRS Form 8962, "Premium Tax Credit", to determine the difference between the credit you were advanced and the actual credit you received, and file that form along with your tax return.
More:   Retirement Savings Tax Credit

Note that if the status changes earlier in the year, the difference will be greater. If your income increases significantly, you will need to store away some of that extra cash to cover the difference on the taxes at the end of the year. Minimize the difference by notifying the Marketplace about the change as soon as possible. They will make the necessary adjustments to reduce the effect.

Are you still not sure if you qualify for PTC? You can use the PTC eligibility estimator on the IRS website to double-check your status. A separate IRS page and IRS Publication 974 provide more detailed answers to other PTC questions, such as defining household income and determining if your employer provides an affordable insurance option that excludes you from PTC.
More: The Most Popular Tax Credits

PTC is an important component of making health insurance affordable to all Americans. If you have a low family income but not low enough to qualify for other government programs, PTC is designed for you. Check to see if you qualify. Make sure that your family has the necessary healthcare coverage while saving some bucks at the same time.This article was provided by our partners at moneytips.com
Photo ©iStock.com/alexskopje

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
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60 Years in Journalism: Taking a Case to the High Court

February 9, 2016, 1:27 pm
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One of the best shows in the town of Washington, D.C. is not on television. It is an oral argument in before the United States Supreme Court. The nine justices are appointed by the President and confirmed after they assure the U.S. Senate they will be dispassionate "umpires."

Despite frequent entreaties by C-SPAN and others, they have refused to allow TV cameras in their august courtroom. Only the handful of spectators who line up for hours--and some lawyers and reporters--have the privilege of entering that truly majestic chamber and seeing them in action.

The court does make audio recordings of the arguments, and uploads them to its web site at the end of each week. Many of the cases are mundane, brought by those impacted by a provision of law or legislation. On major cases, the justices have agreed to same-day audio release. You have to recognize the voices to appreciate the goings on, unless a lawyer presenting the case responds to a question by addressing, "Justice Kennedy..." or whomever. And if you listen regularly, you can begin to tell Justice Kagan from Justice Sotomayor from Justice Ginsburg (she speaks extremely softly). If someone interrupts with a bitingly funny line, it is apt to be Justice Antonin Scalia. No need to recognize Justice Clarence Thomas; he is seldom heard, except when he is called upon to summarize an opinion, and then the Chief Justice introduces him.

The press section is at the side of the courtroom, reporters who cover legal issues full-time seated up front, along with artists if a network sends them. Those of us who cover the court only occasionally sit behind a row of pillars and curtains, so we barely glimpse the justices and strain to listen and puzzle out who is speaking.

When the chief justice pounds his gavel after the allotted time and says, "the case is submitted," we reporters rush out and down the marble front steps, grabbing coats on the way if it's a cold winter day. The lawyers, and sometimes their clients, follow and head for a bank of microphones, taking their case to the court of public opinion, giving us our sound bites to flesh out the story. For television, producers have selected video to include. On decision days, it's a breathless race to a microphone to get headlines on the air, and can be a challenge to get the nuances right.

What makes the argument one of the best shows in town is that the justices are, on average, brilliant. While they pose sharp questions to the lawyers presenting each side of the case--and often begin to interrupt after a lawyer has barely spoken his/her first few words--their goal seems most of all to persuade each other.

A memorable example was the argument I covered on the constitutionality of Obamacare, and its requirement that adults either have coverage or pay a penalty, which the Court ultimately upheld by calling it a tax.

Justice Scalia assailed the law's requirement that young adults have health insurance: "These people are not stupid. They're going to buy insurance later. They're young and need the money now. When they think they have a substantial risk incurring high medical bills, they'll buy insurance like the rest of us."

Justice Elena Kagan scoffed that a youngster hurt in an accident would be able to phone and obtain insurance while awaiting the ambulance: "Young people and healthy people say, 'why should we participate; we can just get it later when we get sick.' So, they leave the market. The rates go up further. More people leave the market. And the whole system crashes and burns, becomes unsustainable."

Justice Kagan was making the same assertion the insurance companies made when they insisted on a mandate for coverage if they could no longer turn their backs on applicants with pre-existing conditions.

Similarly, in the same-sex marriage case, to fellow justices who sought to link marriage to the goal of raising children, Kagan suggested that "the best way to promote this procreation-centered view of marriage is just to limit marriage to people who want children." And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg chimed in, "Suppose a couple, a 70-year-old couple comes in and they want to get married."

These cases resulted in ground-breaking 5-4 decisions, that came about when one justice appointed by a Republican President sided with four named by Democrats. Justices Kagan and Sotomayor were appointed by President Obama, Justice Scalia by President Ronald Reagan. Justice Samuel Alito was appointed by President George W. Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who was also appointed by President Reagan. She had been a judge and Republican leader in the Arizona State Senate.

O'Connor made it clear she, unlike her successor, would have voted against allowing corporations the unlimited right to contribute to political campaigns, and also viewed issues related to affirmative action and women's rights differently. Since leaving the court, she has campaigned against the election of judges because the public sees them beholden to contributors, and campaigned for the restoration of "civics" education in the schools, so students learn how their government works before they are old enough to be inundated with political half-truths.

Each newly-elected President can with a stroke of a pen overturn the executive orders of his predecessor. But the appointment of Justices of the Supreme Court leaves a long-term legacy. And Senators increasingly vote on confirmation from their political perspective on the social and economic issues that make their way through the courts. It's something that ought to be important for voters to consider.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
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Obama Budget Strengthens Medicaid and CHIP

February 9, 2016, 1:33 pm
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The President's budget includes sound improvements to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including:

· *Three years of full federal financing for all Medicaid expansion states*.  The President proposes to have the federal government pay the entire cost of health reform's Medicaid expansion for the first three years -- whether states have already expanded or will in the future.  Under current law, the federal government covers 100 percent of expansion costs between 2014 and 2016 and at least 90 percent thereafter, so states expanding after January 1, 2014 get less than three years of 100-percent federal funding -- and states expanding next year or later won't get any.  The President's proposal would treat all states equitably.· *CHIP funding extension through 2019.*  CHIP is a critical source of affordable coverage for children from low- and moderate-income families with incomes too high for regular Medicaid.  The President and Congress last year extended federal CHIP funding through 2017, allowing states to sustain coverage for the roughly 8 million children who rely on it.  If policymakers don't continue CHIP funding, more than 1 million children now on CHIP could end up uninsured, a previous estimate by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission suggests.· *Equitable Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico.*  Federal Medicaid funding to Puerto Rico and the other territories is capped, so the federal government picks up a dramatically smaller share of Medicaid costs in Puerto Rico than in the states -- just 15-20 percent, compared with an average of 57 percent for the states.  If Medicaid funding rules treated Puerto Rico like a state, the federal government would cover 83 percent of the island's Medicaid costs.  This shortfall is a major cause of Puerto Rico's budget troubles.  Although health reform provided a one-time boost in federal Medicaid funding, Puerto Rico is expected to exhaust those funds as early as next year.  The President's budget would treat Puerto Rico and the other territories like states by eliminating the funding cap and eventually setting their federal Medicaid matching rates in the same way as for states.  (The budget would also raise minimum Medicaid eligibility levels in the territories.)  These proposals would help address Puerto Rico's serious fiscal problems over both the short and long run.· *Streamlining Medicaid and CHIP enrollment.*  The budget includes two proposals to cut red tape and enroll more eligible children and adults in Medicaid and CHIP.  The first would make permanent Express Lane Eligibility, a state option expiring at the end of fiscal year 2017 that allows states to use information they've already collected and verified to establish people's eligibility in other programs such as SNAP (food stamps) to enroll eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP.  Research shows the option boosts enrollment and lowers states' administrative costs.  The second proposal would allow states to give adults up to 12 months of continuous Medicaid coverage before needing to reapply, as states can already do for children.  This would avoid unnecessary paperwork and coverage gaps as people's income fluctuates over the course of the year, which now requires them to switch back and forth between Medicaid and the health insurance marketplaces.· *Medicaid payment boost for primary care.*  The budget reinstates health reform's temporary boost in Medicaid payments for primary care services (which expired at the end of 2014) and extends it to more types of primary care providers.  Health reform required states to raise Medicaid payment rates for certain primary care services to Medicare payment levels in 2013 and 2014, helping ensure that current and newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries had access to care; the federal government picked up all of the added cost.  Research shows that the increase encouraged providers to accept new Medicaid patients.  Restoring this payment bump through 2017 would help bring more primary care providers into Medicaid and retain existing providers.     This post originally appeared on Off the Charts, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' blog.More on this Topic
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Greenstein: Obama's Budget: More Investment With More Deficit Reduction

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President's Budget Boosts Funding to Fight Deep Poverty

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Congress Should Enact Obama's Medicaid Proposal· Restoring Medicaid Payment Bump Would Improve Access to Care

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 7 hours ago.
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Zenefits CEO resigns amid compliance problems

February 9, 2016, 4:35 pm
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Fast-growing San Francisco software startup Zenefits said that Parker Conrad has resigned as chief executive officer, citing “inadequate” processes and regulatory compliance. Zenefits hired an accounting firm in December to conduct a review of the company’s licensing procedures, Sacks wrote in a memo to employees. Josh Stein, a former federal prosecutor and vice president of legal, will oversee the review as chief compliance officer. Conrad, a co-founder of the company, has also resigned from the board of directors of the company that attempted to shake up the health insurance brokerage industry. The company makes software that is intended to streamline the way small businesses buy health insurance for their employees. According to BuzzFeed, Zenefits employed unlicensed brokers to sell insurance to customers, resulting in scrutiny from regulators and the undoing of many of its sales. Established brokers in many states complained to state regulatory bodies, according to tech news site ReCode. Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal who is now an investor at Founders Fund, Antonio Gracias of the investment firm Valor Equity Partners and William McGlashan Jr. of TPG Growth. Reported by SFGate 4 hours ago.
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Defining Hillary

February 9, 2016, 7:34 pm
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I've been in New Hampshire this week talking to voters and knocking on doors for Hillary Clinton. Last night's results will be sliced, diced and analyzed umpteen ways by countless experts, pundits and talking heads, but based on what I've seen and felt here, and what I already know about Hillary, here's what matters.

Hillary Clinton is exactly what she says she is--a fighter for us, who gets things done. I almost wrote "a progressive who gets things done," but I think it may be a mistake to give more oxygen to this argument over who is the real "progressive," Hillary or Bernie.

It's funny--the word "progressive" was adopted by Democrats when it became too risky to call yourself a "liberal." Words like these go in and out of favor, and in this election, we're seeing a lot of debate over political labels--"progressive,""establishment,""socialist," etc. After a New Hampshire primary where more than one voter told me their choice was between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, I think it's safe to say that when it comes to characterizing voters, labels aren't all that informative.

But we need to pay attention to a different way these labels are being used. In Hillary Clinton's case, they're being used as the basis for personal attacks. She's not progressive enough. Her supporters are pooh-poohed as merely establishment. These lines of attack aren't engaging her on the issues that matter in this election. They're attempts to define her under false pretenses.

Who is the "real" Hillary Clinton?

For starters, Hillary Clinton has been named the most admired woman in the world by Gallup a record 20 times, more often than anyone in Gallup's history. What is it that people admire about Hillary? I can think of a few examples.

Resilience -- she created the Children's Health Insurance Program as a response to the brutal attacks on her effort to enact universal health care coverage back in the 90's.

*Leadership*-- She has been a leader on fighting for children's rights at the Children's Defense Fund, she went undercover in Alabama to expose housing discrimination against African Americans, she was a leader in the Senate for the people of New York after 9/11. And she stepped up to help Barack Obama and mobilize her supporters to help him win election. It's no wonder that President Obama recently said: "I think one of the best decisions I ever made as president was to ask Hillary Clinton to serve as our nation's secretary of state. ... I will always be grateful for her extraordinary leadership representing our nation around the world."

*Compassion*--Her life-long advancement of human rights for the marginalized, from her Beijing declaration of women's rights as human rights, to her more recent declaration, as Secretary of State, that LGBTQ rights are human rights. And early on as Secretary of State she extended benefits to same-sex couples -- before the Obama administration took that action for other federal employees, and years before the Supreme Court recognized same-sex couples' right to marry.

*Tenacity*--She is defending Planned Parenthood and women's health care from Republican attacks, and she isn't afraid to demand that public funding be available for abortion care like any other health care.

For women like me, who have witnessed the struggles for women's rights since the 1970s, Hillary Clinton's accomplishments are familiar and inspiring. But for millennial women--who according to the polls are favoring Bernie Sanders over Hillary, it's a different story.

The Washington Post published a series on "New Wave Feminism" that began with this definition:
Young women (and, increasingly, men) are still coming to the movement in strong numbers, but this feminism looks different, in many ways, than that of earlier generations. This New Wave feminism is shaped less by a shared struggle against oppression than by a collective embrace of individual freedoms, concerned less with targeting narrowly defined enemies than with broadening feminism's reach through inclusiveness, and held together not by a handful of national organizations and charismatic leaders but by the invisible bonds of the Internet and social media.
As the leader of one of those national organizations, I know that it is my responsibility to speak to and mobilize new audiences of women who have developed different views on what--and who--is a feminist. It's not enough for millennials to support a candidate just because she's a woman, or because she would be the first woman President. They want the first woman to be the right woman--and you know what? So do I. That's why I always welcome the opportunity to speak with young women about the work Hillary has done and her strong record of advocating and winning advances for women, for racial justice, for LGBTQ equality and more.

To be clear: Bernie Sanders is a good man, and I get why he has such appeal to millennials, and I think Hillary Clinton gets it too. She knows what it's like to support a candidate who stands proudly for the best and most deeply held values and beliefs shared by a generation. After all, when Hillary was their age, she worked for George McGovern--in Texas!

I'm looking forward to the next round of primaries and caucuses because I think Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are engaged in an important and productive conversation about their shared values and goals. We need to look beyond the labels and caricatures that get attached to the candidates (though both were hilarious on Saturday Night Live) and focus on what really matters in this election.

I welcome Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President in 2016 because gender, race, economic justice, transphobia and homophobia matter in the United States today, and Hillary Clinton's proud history of fighting for all of us give her knowledge, insights, and wisdom that others do not have. That's good for our politics and good for our country. Hillary Clinton doesn't really need to worry about the way others are defining her in this election, because she's devoted a lifetime to defining herself.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 hour ago.
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United States: Subsidizing Student Health Insurance With Stipends – New Agency Guidance And Relief - Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

February 10, 2016, 6:54 am
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On February 5, 2016, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) issued guidance addressing the application of market reforms and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act Reported by Mondaq 14 hours ago.
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Dear John Kasich, Hugs Will Not Solve American Families' Problems

February 10, 2016, 9:40 am
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Toward the end of his concession speech in New Hampshire Tuesday night, John Kasich said some words that underline the unfortunate emptiness of his brand of so-called compassionate conservatism.

The Ohio governor delivered a seemingly heartfelt, even moving, talk, after finishing in second place behind reality TV star Donald Trump in the state's primary.

Hailed as the one reasonable Republican presidential candidate amid a sea of terrifying extremists, Kasich made an earnest plea for all of us to just "slow down" and connect with our families and our neighbors.

"If we would just slow down and heal the divisions within our own families. Be willing to listen to the person that lives next door, when you’re in such a hurry to get out of the driveway or such a hurry to get out of the shopping center," he said. "Just slow down, look ‘em in the eye. Give ‘em a hug." 

His words seemed aimed straight at any working adult beset by endless demands, hustling to care for and support loved ones or to simply stay sane in a 24/7 world. At a time when we've all got our heads bent down to stare drone-like at our iPhones, working ever-longer hours to get by and racing from work to home and back again, it struck a chord.

But alas, Kasich kept going. "It doesn’t take government. It takes our hearts. Our hearts to change America," he said.

The trouble is, it absolutely does take more than our hearts to give Americans the space and the time to slow down. And Kasich's policy prescriptions for working families offer little support for his truly laudable goal.

Let's take family leave. The United States is the only developed nation in the world that does not give mothers paid time off from work to spend time -- precious once-in-lifetime, mission-critical time -- with their infants. Kasich is by all accounts OK with this.

Kasich thinks employers should be free to choose whether or not to offer paid leave, saying it's "up to employers to try to be creative about this."

That's essentially the failing system the U.S. has now. It's meant that only 12 percent of workers in the private sector have access to paid leave. It's meant that one in four women are back at work less than two weeks after giving birth.

It's hard to find any better kind of "slow down" time to heal your family than the days, weeks and months after the arrival of a new baby. 

This is time that is of critical importance to a family's health and well-being. Babies who have their mother at home during their first year of life are less likely to die, for starters. Infant mortality rates drop when mothers are able to stay with their babies and bond, research has shown.

Women who are able to take time off from work after childbirth are also less likely to become depressed. And post-partum depression doesn't simply affect mothers, it can have devastating consequences for their children and families as well.

Considering that Kasich is one of the staunchest anti-abortion governors in the country, you'd think he'd have a vested interest in ensuring that all babies who are born receive the best kind of care that is possible. At a time when the majority of American children live in households where both parents work (or in a household headed by one working parent), you have to find a way to allow one or both parents to slow down and take that time.

Most Americans simply do not live in a world where women stay home and raise the kids. But Kasich, notably, does live in that world. Here he is talking about how his wife is at home doing laundry and taking care of the kids: 
Kasich's big idea for working mothers: encouraging telecommuting. He argues that this would not only give women time to bond with their babies, but also close the pay gap. 

“The one thing we need to do for working women is to give them the flexibility to be able to work at home online,” Kasich said at a town hall in New Hampshire last month. “The reason why that’s important is, when women take maternity leave or time to be with the children, then what happens is they fall behind on the experience level, which means that the pay becomes a differential."

It is unclear how telecommuting would be possible for women who work in retail, or anyone who must be physically present to do her job. It's also unclear how a women telecommuting to work could compete in terms of pay with a man who is present in the office all day -- and not, presumably, looking after a child or doing the wash.

To be sure, Kasich's policies do not address in any way how a father could slow down and participate in his child's life, either. And we haven't even brought up that paid family leave also helps those who need time off to care for sick and elderly family members.

Though Kasich gets kudos from liberals for expanding access to Medicaid in his state, he also opposes much of Obamacare and would repeal the law, which has provided health insurance to millions of Americans -- helping them slow down and care for themselves. 

Kasich certainly does deserve praise for running a positive campaign that celebrates empathy and compassion for others. Unlike his competitors, he speaks about leaving no one behind and defends the poor and those beset by mental health issues and drug problems.

"My sense is that it is important that we do not ignore the poor, the widowed, the disabled," he said on Fox News last summer. "I just think that's the way America is. And I think there's a moral aspect to it. In my state, there's not only a moral aspect where some people's lives have been saved because of what we've done, but it also saves us money in the long run."

Still, we need to consider those words in balance with his proposals to put his compassion into action. And that's when his ideals fall down. 

Figuring this stuff out doesn't happen with one's heart alone. Hugs won't solve it.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 11 hours ago.
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Obamacare: Humana Considering Withdrawing From Health Care Marketplace

February 10, 2016, 10:08 am
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U.S. health insurance company Humana Inc. said that its profits fell 30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. Reported by HNGN 11 hours ago.
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Can FinTech Be an Opportunity for Greece's Troubled Economy?

February 10, 2016, 10:50 am
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FinTech is globally considered as one of the hottest sectors in startups right now, with VC fundings having been tripled between 2013 and 2014, topping $ 12.1bn.

The potential of technology disruption in the financial and banking services seems to be so strong that even banks and payments facilitators are tapping into FinTech, backing or accelerating such startups. In the meantime, traditional tech companies that had nothing to do with financial services, like Apple, Samsung or Facebook, are building FinTech solutions to incorporate in their tech products.

In Greece, the attention towards digital banking and financial services has been turned the last couple of years and it came back in the spotlight last summer, after the impose of capital controls in the banking system that followed a snap referendum call by the greek government. More individuals and more businesses looked into electronic means of banking and payments; even alternative currencies like BitCoin hit mainstream media for the first time.

However, the sector appears to be limited in the country, as only few independent companies are growing up.

Most important 'player' is currently Viva, a company that became known for its booking services provided for flights and other means of transportation, as well as theatres, cinemas and other spectacles. In 2014, Viva became the first greek company to be granted a Electronic Money Institution license by the European Central Bank, which allows them to offer payments and e-banking services in the 31 countries of the European Economic Area. Viva's flagship product is Viva Wallet, which allows users to connect their bank accounts and pay vendors as well as for bills, utilities and more online. Viva's mobile wallet is also letting users transfer small amounts of money to each other, opening up the market of peer-to-peer payments in Greece. With around € 6mn raised in 2014, Viva is also opening up to the physical channel of commerce, offering POS solutions to vendors.

Beyond Viva, we can only see a handful of companies falling under the FinTech definition, with several of them developing e-invoicing and accounting products. Bootstrapped Billit.io and StartTech Ventures-backed Elorus (with € 50k) being the most well-known ones.

On the insurance market, Hellas Direct is the first car insurance company in Greece to offer their services exclusively on the Web. Registered in Cyprus, Hellas Direct started up in 2012 from former investment banking executives and in 2015 they raised $ 6mn from Third Point and Endeavor Catalyst. On the same sector, there are several aggregators, with InsuranceMarket.gr being the biggest online aggregator and broker for vehicle, home and private health insurance. Started in 2012, their founders are pushing for the pension market in Greece being reformed, opening up a bigger opportunity for the private market.

On the BlockChain technology, Warply's - a mobile marketing company - founder John Doxaras launched recently BlockPoint, a platform that allows users to create mobile wallets, loyalty schemes and other FinTech products through dedicated SDKs on top of BlockChain and BitCoin transactions.

Finally, there are a few companies in various sectors; for example trading, where ZuluTrade, founded in 2007 by former AIM-listed InternetQ's co-founder, serial entrepreneur and angel investor Leon Yohai, has topped 120 employees by 2015, and crowdinvesting, where OpenCircle launched in 2015, allowing for companies to post their business plan and request funding from accredited investors.

FinTech got the 'flavour of the month' for Greece after the capital controls of July and the interest in electronic payments or alternative currencies like BitCoin, but what it's really interesting with the greek case is that banks themselves, rather than independent startups, are appearing to be driving the introduction of technology into their ballgame, by being active and mobilised about offering digital services.

Every major bank in Greece is offering their own e- and m-banking services via branded applications and is building rewarding and loyalty programs to shift their customers to using them. A couple of years ago, they were the ones that introduced mobile and NFC payments in partnership with greek telecommunication companies, while now they're even introducing mobile apps for peer-to-peer micro-payments.

So, the opportunity for startups in the FinTech sector in Greece could be traced in:
- The wider financial, economic and tax environment under which Greece is operating. It can help companies that revolutionising the 'money sector' grow, as there is always an open agenda about services that will help sectors of the greek economy (and the greek state) to eliminate expenditures, tax evasion and corruption.
- Banks in Greece having already recognised the potential of digital services. They have introduced their own solutions, which could lead to synergies and support towards startups innovating in the field. At least four greek banks are running programs that fund or incubate startup companies, while more initiatives particularly targeted at the FinTech sector are expected to be launched soon.
- The huge amount of bureaucracy and other structural inefficiencies that greek banks as organisations are consisting of. There is a critical mass of frustrated customers out there willing to become the early adopters of new solutions.
- The awareness that has been raised and the attention that has been given after the capital controls and after the rise of Viva as a company that has the potential to become the greek equivalent of the 'PayPal mafia'.
- The fact that apart from maybe Viva, there isn't any other big independent player in the market right now.

Indicative of the unexploited potential disrupting the financial services in Greece can have is the fact that a couple of international players have opened up their services in the country. In 2014, Helsinki-based Holvi launched their e-banking services for small enterprises and individual professionals in Greece alongside several european markets, while in late 2015 Berlin-based NUMBER26, which is backed by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, started offering their mobile-only banking services in Greece.

On the flip side, while FinTech is getting quite some talk about it lately in Greece, there are several negative factors that could prove it harder for the sector to accelerate:
- The tax and economic environment again, but the other way around this time, is making more appealing to consumers and vendors to tax evade, rather than use electronic means of transactions.
- Although the majority of Greeks are smartphone users, the widespread use of cash and the elderly population make Greeks unfamiliar or unwilling to use digital services for payments and banking.
- Physical vendors are neglecting to equip themselves with POS devices, which limits the use of credit/debit cards.
- Figures are showing that despite the increase in e-payments right after the capital controls, now that the controls are being loosen up, we in turn see a decline in e-payments.

Although 2016 started with mixed signals from the greek government (at one time it was considered that digital transactions would be promoted in an effort to fight tax evasion and at another it was considered that they would be taxed so that the state income could be increased), FinTech is expected to be one of the sectors the greek startup scene is going to be talking about the next months.

This post first appeared on HuffPost Greece.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 10 hours ago.
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No accord for NJ Transit, rail union as strike date looms

February 10, 2016, 11:07 am
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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Union officials say New Jersey Transit rail workers are prepared to strike if the agency doesn't improve on an offer they say would increase health premiums by hundreds of dollars per month. The conductors' union head says health insurance increases in NJ Transit's offer would almost totally negate a proposed wage increase. Reported by SeattlePI.com 10 hours ago.
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The crazy roller-coaster life of ousted Zenefits founder Parker Conrad

February 10, 2016, 11:36 am
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The crazy roller-coaster life of ousted Zenefits founder Parker Conrad Just one year ago, 34-year-old Parker Conrad was riding high.

He was CEO of one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley.

Earlier this week he found himself out of the company he founded, with Zenefits in a world of turmoil. And his No. 2 man, COO David Sacks (who was also an investor), took over as CEO, effective immediately.

It's another crazy chapter in Conrad's life, which has been so filled with highs and lows, that it sounds like a made-for-TV movie.

*Failing Harvard, beating cancer*

Conrad has always made the most of difficult situations — even as as far back as high school, where his grades were mediocre.

"Then I did this thing called the Westinghouse Talent Search, now called the Intel Talent Search, where I spent about 2 years doing research on neuroscience lab and I ended up coming in third place in that nationally," Conrad explained to Business Insider in a February 2015 interview. (All quotes in this piece are from interviews conducted when Conrad was still CEO.)

That helped him get into Harvard where he joined the college newspaper, The Crimson, which he loved. He was eventually named managing editor.

"I was spending all my time at the Crimson, like 70 hours a week and I didn’t go to class for like a year," he said.

Because of the time spent on the paper instead of on classes, "I failed out of school. I had to leave Harvard, really halfway through my tenure as the Crimson managing editor. It was this incredibly humiliating and shocking experience," he told us.

He returned a year later, graduated, and got a great job at biotech firm — Amgen — based in Southern California. 

"I had a very great stable life, where I was living two blocks from the beach in Santa Monica. I felt like I was a big star in the company. I was very, very junior, but felt like I was moving up and getting lots of attention," he says.

Shortly after college he got, and got rid of, testicular cancer.

*Living in an old-folks home*

Conrad was starting to get frustrated with the slow pace of advancement at Amgen when his old college roommate called — a guy he used to do day trading with in the dorms. He wanted to do a startup.

"We had this idea of starting a Wiki for stock research. So I left my company, left LA, and moved to San Francisco."

With no job and no money, they moved into "an old folks home" in Walnut Creek, a retirement community called Rossmoor.

His cofounder's grandparents had an apartment they weren't using, so they lived there for free.

One catch: No one under 65 was allowed to live there, so "we were sneaking in and out each time," he explains.

"We lived there for about six months. It was by far the worst six months of my life. There was a store outside of Rossmoor that was literally called 'A Better Denture' right outside the gate."

He admits, "It’s a funny story now — but I sort of felt then like my life fell off a cliff. I had this great life, living situation in Santa Monica, a great job. Suddenly, I’m living in the old folks home, trying to do something like god knows what, to get something off the ground, not having any idea what we were doing."

*Fired from his own startup by his cofounder*

Being broke and stressed out at his startup "sort of stayed like that for like five or six years, to be totally honest. At Wikinvest, which got renamed Sigfig, we were constantly just two or three months away from not being able to make payroll. We constantly pivoted, two or three times."

He and his cofounder were co-CEOs, "which everyone will tell you is a very bad idea. Eventually, there was a critical juncture where Mike's family put in a whole bunch of money and part of that agreement was that he would become sole CEO. He and I really started not getting along after that. And not long after that he fired me."

He continues, "And to really make the situation really bad, I stayed around for another year, working at the company, closing out some deals and finishing up some stuff, which was incredibly unpleasant."

He continues, "So when I started Zenefits, I was kind of at the bottom. I had been fired. I left in disgrace. And I was thinking, 'How am I going to do this to come back from this?'"

Answer: another startup.

On the very day he left SigFig, he incorporated Zenefits and launched the company on a shoestring.

He had about $20,000 saved up from his exit, but his wife had a job so they could live on her salary while he tried to get the company going.

*Resentment leads to a great idea*

The idea of Zenefits came from SigFig, which at its height had about 30 employees, making it too small to hire an HR person.

As a former cancer survivor, he was vigilant about health insurance, and employees always asked him for advice since he knew so much about it.

"There’s a lot of just administrative work that comes along with having employees," he says. "It was like a couple of hours every month, and it was a couple of hours I deeply resented. I felt like, ‘Man, if this stuff was all connected up and all integrated and all worked together than a lot of this stuff would go away. It could run on its own.'"

For instance, the only way to enroll a new employee in the insurance program was to fax the form in. He had to go to Kinko's to do that because the company didn't own a fax machine.

After he launched Zenefits, Conrad taught himself to code (Python), just enough to build an early version of his idea for Zenefits. "I was non-technical at the last company, and I’m still obviously a sh--y engineer."

He was accepted into the Y Combinator program in 2012 and once in, he took on a cofounder, Laks Srini, a top engineer from SigFig. He hired a bunch of others away from SigFig, too.

To build the Zenefits site, he talked to a lot of insurance brokers and others, trying to find out why the paperwork was done the way it was. That's when he discovered how much money they all made.

And inspiration struck: the "hub and spoke" business model. Give Zenefits away for free and charge for services it could sell them.

"The insight in our business model is that if you could be the hub, it's such a powerful place to occupy that you could make so much money off all of the spokes that you can give the hub away from free," he says.

*VCs poured $582 million into the young company*

At the end of 2014, Zenefits was on track to be the fastest growing software-as-a-service company EVER. 

The company caught fire because it offers a free cloud service for human resources functions — onboarding, payroll, benefits, vacation tracking, and so on. Its original plan was to make most of its money from selling benefits  — for example, companies can use it to purchase health insurance. Zenefits is the insurance broker, taking a broker fee.

"We launched in May 2013 and by the beginning of 2014, (8 months later) we were at a $1 million of run-rate revenue," Conrad told us at the time.

By the end of 2014, Zenefits was at just over $20 million in run-rate revenue, and the goal for 2015 was $100 million.

"As far as we can tell, we're the fastest growing SaaS out there," Conrad told us at the time. "Salesforce is one of them, Workday is another, and it took those guys four years to get to $20 million. We did it in less than two. It took them five to six years to get to $100 million. We’ll do that in less than three."

Conrad's bravado had VCs tripping over themselves to invest huge sums of money in his company.

By the middle of 2014, he had raised $83.6 million in three rounds from such backers as Lars Dalgaard, currently a VC for Andreessen Horowitz. (Dalgaard famously sold his own fast-growing cloud startup, SuccessFactors, to SAP for $3.4 billion in 2011.)

In fact, Zenefits was so impressive that one of the Valley's most successful entrepreneurs and angel investors, David Sacks, became both an investor and an employee in December 2014. He took the COO role, the No. 2 job to Conrad.

Sacks is part of the so-called PayPal "mafia," a sizable group of former PayPal execs who have gone on to massive success in Silicon Valley. He was the COO of PayPal from 1999 to 2002 until the company's sale to eBay, then founded two successful startups: Yammer, which Microsoft bought for $1.2 billion in 2012, and genealogy site Geni, which MyHeritage bought for $25 million in 2012.

He's also an an angel investor in companies like Twitter, Uber, SpaceX, Airbnb, Scribd, AngelList, Slack, Eventbrite, Eventbrite, SurveyMonkey, Lyft, and dozens of others.

Sacks could do anything he wanted but he chose to take a job at Zenefits because he fell in love with the company, he told Business Insider at the time.

"Zenefits was honestly the most exciting company that I’ve seen that needed my help," he said, and added that since he's already done it all, he wasn't hung up on being the boss. "In addition to being a entrepreneur and having founded stuff, I've been active as an angel investor. So I've got experience being supportive of other people’s visions," he told us.

In mid-2015, with venture funds flowing and unicorn madness gripping the Valley, VCs invested another $500 million at a $4.5 billion valuation. That was a whopping $582 million raised by the two-year old company.

Conrad was at that point, a Silicon Valley golden boy, a major success story.

*Things started to crash*

With so much money in the bank, and the VCs chanting, "Grow faster! Grow Faster!" Zenefits went on a hiring spree. 

In 2014 alone, Zenefits grew from a mere 15 people to over 420 employees. In 2015 it opened an office in Arizona, in addition to its San Francisco headquarters, and grew its headcount to over 1,000, the company says. By the end of 2015, it had about 10,000 customers.

But in the summer of 2015, it got into a much-publicized brawl with HR software giant ADP, a former Zenefits partner, in which each side accused the other of lying and misleading customers. The brawl led ADP to sue Zenefits, but the suit was eventually dropped.

In the meantime, ADP was also working on a competitor to Zenefits, and other competitors were arriving as well.

As it became clear that Zenefits was not going hit the promised land of $100 million in revenue, it started rolling out more fee-based services. Customers that signed up suddenly found themselves being pitched to upgrade to paid versions by Zenefits new and highly-pressured sales force, a potential customer told Business Insider.

At the same time, the traditional insurance industry started fighting back against the upstart service — much like the cab industry and hotel industry did to Uber and Airbnb respectively. 

For a short while, Zenefits was even banned in the state of Utah after insurance brokers lobbied the Department of Insurance.

Ultimately, Zenefits was accused of selling insurance without the proper licenses in multiple states. This ultimately to Conrad's departure from the company, Sacks said in an email to Zenefits employees after taking over as CEO.

"The fact is that many of our internal processes, controls, and actions around compliance have been inadequate, and some decisions have just been plain wrong. As a result, Parker has resigned," the email said.

*Failure's biggest lesson*

What has he learned from it all?

Back when we first talked to him about his up-and-down life in February 2015, he told us, "The only thing I learned is that failure sucks and you never want to do it. There’s not a lot to be said for that particular lesson," he laughed at the time.

We have reached out to Conrad to hear what he has to say about the latest developments. We'll update you if and when he responds.

*SEE ALSO: The CEO of one of Silicon Valley's hottest startups has suddenly resigned*

Join the conversation about this story » Reported by Business Insider 9 hours ago.
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Doctor, Lawyer or Contractor? Try These Lead Gen Websites to Boost Your Bottom Line

February 10, 2016, 12:10 pm
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It may seem strange for a lawyer, doctor or contractor to need help boosting the number of individuals they serve. Doesn't the very existence of humans preclude a dip in demand? Shouldn't this be enough to satisfy their respective practices' financial needs? Unfortunately, no. As the marketplace grows and competition increases, it can be easy for you to get lost in the crowd. To add insult to injury: While the majority of doctors, contractors and attorneys will tell you they love their jobs, they hate some of the other aspects of managing a firm, like finding new clients to get their finances in shape. However, in recent years,marketing for firms and practices has become a little bit easier - and much more financially rewarding - with the help of specialized lead generation marketing websites.

There are now a variety of businesses and websites that offer an array of lead generation-focused marketing services to make sure the phone keeps ringing and your bank account remains healthy. Some of these services charge a monthly retainer, others work on a per lead basis, and some are completely free, generating revenue through advertising, among other mediums. As more specialized lead generation marketing solutions continue to pop up online, it is worth your practice's or firm's time to check out how these services can you give your business a fiscal boost.

Here's our roundup of the top lead generation marketing websites for you to consider in 2016.

*Are you a doctor?*
ZocDoc.com

Doctors entering the job market post-med school are benefitting from what's called a "seller's market." With baby boomers entering their more rickety years (sorry, everyone!) and more individuals having access to health insurance (many for the first time), demand is up, especially for family physicians. And doctors and their practices can reap the financial benefits -if they spend a modicum amount of time making sure patients, well, know they exist. Fortunately, the Internet offers manifold options.

ZocDoc is one of the top lead generation websites for connecting doctors with potential patients, as well as improving patient attendance (with ZocDoc reminders) and rebooking. The site can doctors help attract the best patients for their practice by listing doctor specialties, insurance details and availability on your hosted profile. Plus, ZocDoc is a top result when people search for doctors online. In fact, 120 million doctor searches put ZocDoc in the top results - think, first page on Google. Believe us, this won't just boost visibility; it will also boost the bottom line.

*Are you a lawyer?*
GotFired.com

Give this site dedicated to helping lawyers boost their client list some consideration. Focused solely on employment law, it seeks to connect both individuals who feel they have been unjustly terminated as well as employers facing lawsuits from current or former employees with highly qualified employment attorneys. Attorneys will be able to join the GotFired network, receive a profile, gain word-of-mouth buzz through client reviews, write for the GotFired legal blog and access help developing their web presence. GotFired has many exciting ideas planned for 2016, so if you're an employment attorney, put this site on you watch-list if you want help in aggressively expanding your client base in 2016.*Are you a contractor?*
HomeAdvisor.com

As the economy continues to improve, property owners -- be they business or home -- are willing to invest more in improvements and renovations. For contractors, this opens up much needed opportunity. Still, it can be difficult to connect with new clients, especially as so much new business for contractors seems to rely on word-of-mouth.

Fortunately, the website HomeAdvisor offers contractors another way to attract new customers. Used by over 30 million homeowners, with more than 5 million online reviews, HomeAdvisor can help pre-screened contractors find new clients in their community, improve their reputation and pad their coffers. On any given morning, thousands of consumers have already submitted requests. With HomeAdvisor, contractors will receive a LiveDirectory profile, which features verified ratings and reviews, licenses, pictures of past projects and mores. Additionally, contractors can opt for ProLeads, Pro-on-the-Go mobile app and a custom web or mobile site. The goal? Connecting contractors with the customers they need to bulk up business and block out your schedule.

Online marketing may not be your thing, but with the internet being everyone's favorite search tool, investing in such strategies can be one of best decisions you've made for your firm or practices finances.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
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Obamacare Lawsuit: Old News Still Making News

February 10, 2016, 12:34 pm
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Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard the message: "Legally presumed Obamacare lawsuit delivered by health care reformers finds amenable federal judges and turns into a real live menace to biggest social reform of the last fifty years."

As Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again."

In September 2015, a federal justice in Washington dictated that the House of Representatives does have legal status to sue Obama's administration over Obamacare. The question is did the administration exceed its constitutionally given powers by providing certain funding for the Affordable Care Act -- popularly known as "Obamacare" -- without Congress appropriating the money.

The issue is still a controversial question. An unfavorable ruling on the merits may paralyze Obamacare as opposed to simply hurting beneficiaries of its advantages.

In the meantime, Obamacare has been whipsawed by partisanism and the poor, elderly and sick are caught in the middle.

*Back and Forth*

Since ObamaCare was introduced, there has been a good deal of back-and-forth. Between states trying to decide whether or not to set up exchanges and attempts at repealing the ACA from Republicans, tens of millions of Americans are stuck in the middle of the battle.

Those that make up the rope in this tug-of-war are paying more for insurance for themselves and their families each year. The only group to benefit are the health insurance groups, pharmaceutical companies, and their lobbying arms.

There is some good news for Obamacare according to the latest snapshot.
*Open Enrollment Snapshot *

On January 31, 2016, Open Enrollment ended and approximately 12.6 million plan selections were put in place. Of those, almost 10 million came by way of the HealthCare.gov platform and just over 3 million selected a plan through state-based marketplaces.

Of the ones who obtained coverage through the website, about 4 million are new consumers. That translates into over 40% of all plan selections were from new consumers.

"We're happy to report it was a success," said Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department.

Burwell noted that the federal Obamacare marketplace, serving residents in 38 states, was a success based on the numbers of new consumers signed up.

Kevin Counihan, CEO of HealthCare.gov, said, "We knocked the lights out this year."

Burwell told reporters that the final tally of enrollments shows that ObamaCare is a product that people "want and need."

Despite wanting and needing, facts are facts and one unpleasant downside is the rates will rise in 2016.*Rates Rise*

Obamacare premiums are planned to rise by 7.5% in 2016.

The question that remains is: Should Obamacare customers expect to pay more or less for their health insurance. The answer, as anything coming out of Washington, is it depends. The new bottom line a consumer may be paying will depend on the state, the plan and the level of income.

While the national average for premium increases is 7.5%, in some states, like Alaska, the jump could be as high as 31%. In Indiana, premiums are projected to decrease by over 12%.

"For the majority of consumers, premium increases for 2016 are in single digits, and they will be able to find plans for under $100 a month," said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the Health Insurance Marketplace. The Obama White House recognizes the Affordable Care Act with helping over 17 million people gain health insurance. The rate of America's uninsured has dropped to below 12%, a historic low.

Those figures don't necessarily reflect young enrollees and other groups who may be shunning enrollment.*Young and Shunning*

The news for Obamacare isn't all roses and rainbows. Enrollment of younger, relatively healthy people with a middle-class income is flat and has left risk pools filled with older, poorer people with more expensive health conditions.

The design of the ACA's financial support may be the reason that the only people are buying exchange plans in large numbers are individuals and families whose incomes are below 200% of the federal poverty level -- or roughly $24,000 for a single person and $48,000 for a family of four. Individuals earning under that qualify for tax credits that reduce their premiums and subsidies that are substantially lower.

For individuals over 200% of the FPL, exchange plans usually contain too little benefit to be worth the cost. For instances, a family of four living in Daleville, Virginia, headed by a 40-year old couple with $60,000 in income will face a $5,000 annual premium after applying a $5,000 tax credit and taking a $5,000 deductible for the second-lowest cost available through the exchange. Each new dollar of earnings will diminish the tax credit more by about 14 cents. If this family's earned income is above $97,200, they would not qualify for a tax credit in any form.

Despite this, many enrollees will see savings on their health care.*Financial Savings*

Roughly 80% of the individuals who selected a 2015 Marketplace plan managed to qualify for financial aid and the average tax credit for enrollees who qualified for financial assistance was $270 per month.

Based on current HHS analysis, almost 80% of returning consumers will be able to buy a plan for $100 or less after tax credits and 70% will be able to buy a plan for less than $75.

For the 2015 enrollment, over 50% of consumers who re-enrolled shopped around and half of those selected a new plan. The typical consumer who switched plans saved money on their net premium. Those who switched plans within the same tier saved, on average, almost $400 on their 2015 annualized premiums compared to those who remained in their same plan.
*Special Enrollment Remains*

Open enrollment for 2016 is closed, but special enrollment remains for people losing their coverage due to loss or change of employment and individuals undergoing other significant life transitions. Insurers have declared that special enrollment terms have drawn higher-risk enrollees and some insurers have ceased giving commissions to agents as a way to stem special enrollments.

If buyers are incapable of enrolling through the special enrollment period, the marketplace will not allow new buyers to join. As Sarah Lueck, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently pointed out, insurers that wish to stabilize the risk pool need to encourage more, not fewer, enrollments. If special enrollments continue to be blocked, observers expect to see marketplace registration dropping steadily with a simultaneous increase in the quantity of uninsured.

The struggle between Congress and the Administration will continue, and activists will continue to point out promises made by the nation's founding fathers.

The US Constitution's Preamble promises American citizens that the nation's elected officials have an obligation to "insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare."

By failing to offer a free, common, nationalized healthcare system to Americans, the U.S. Constitution is not being upheld. Instead of promoting the "general welfare," the population is being forced to pay exorbitant amounts to for-profit health insurance companies.

A national health care system for all American citizens to access, free of charge, should be a right guaranteed to everyone and not something reserved for only those who can afford it.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
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Free or Low-Cost Health Insurance

February 10, 2016, 12:16 pm
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Free or Low-Cost Health Insurance Patch Riverhead, NY -- Free program at Riverhead Free Library Reported by Patch 9 hours ago.
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Integrity Data Announces Successes in Assisting Employer IRS Reporting under the Affordable Care Act

February 10, 2016, 12:02 pm
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Amid U.S. employers’ compliance jitters during the first production and filing season for intense new IRS forms, a vendor of payroll and human resources software takes pride in ending businesses’ Form 1095-C anxiety.

Lincoln, Ill. (PRWEB) February 10, 2016

As the intensity of new employer reporting under the Affordable Care Act keeps jarring U.S. businesses that must comply, Integrity Data, a developer of business software for processing payroll and human resources records, announces client successes in fulfilling challenging IRS requirements.

At the center of this compliance anxiety is IRS Form 1095-C, a federal reporting obligation, starting with Tax Year 2015, for U.S. employers with 50 and more full-time employees (including equivalents).

In monthly breakdowns, a 1095-C form – which must be produced for every ACA-defined full-time employee – furnishes details about what, if any, health insurance is offered at a place of employment. This intricate new form for year-end business reporting, which documents both payroll and benefits data according to new classifications and calculations, conveys the most complicated statements of workforce information ever required of U.S. employers.

“We are proud that Integrity Data’s diligence in crafting software which properly formats and calculates the information needed on IRS 1095-C forms is now alleviating employers’ stress over this new compliance burden,” said Patrick Doolin, CEO of Integrity Data, referring to comments from businesses using Integrity Data's ACA Compliance Solution.

"Working with Integrity Data has put an end to our 1095-C nightmare. We had been using [another ACA solution], which was moving so slowly we thought we might not meet the deadline. Integrity made the process easy, and everyone on staff had the knowledge necessary to make us feel confident in the service,” said Katherine Coe, Benefits Analyst with AppRiver, an email and web security firm based in Gulf Breeze, Fla.

Though recently the IRS extended to March 31, 2016 the date by which businesses must produce 1095-C forms for their employees, those employers using the Affordable Care Act tracking and reporting software developed and supported by Integrity Data have been able to deliver the forms before the original deadline of February 1, 2016.

“This ACA software was very easy to use, and completed the task with very little effort. It gave me more time to focus on other tasks, knowing that Integrity’s software handled much of the heavy lifting,” said Thomas E. Reynolds, Human Resources Generalist for the Loxahatchee River District in Jupiter, Fla., an Integrity Data client that provided 1095-C forms to its employees in January.

“Integrity’s support team was the backbone of the process,” Reynolds says of the successful 1095-C production and distribution. “They are trained well, very knowledgeable of all aspects of 1094/1095, and very confident in the process. Their response to my questions/concerns was always quick, and they always made me feel like my issue was a priority.”

Although the IRS has said that employees do not need a 1095-C form in hand for preparation of 1040 filings for 2015, Integrity Data continues to work with businesses to make sure they comfortably meet the March 31 production deadline for Form 1095-C as well as the filing deadlines for the form’s 1094-C transmittal to the IRS (May 31, 2016 for paper returns; June 30, 2016 for electronic returns).

“We stand ready to help any organization with 1095-C anxiety,” Doolin said.

To learn about the ACA Compliance Solution by Integrity Data, please visit http://www.integrity-data.com/software/aca-compliance/.

ABOUT INTEGRITY DATA
Integrity Data is a longstanding leader in development of software that improves business processes centered on payroll and human resources data. Headquartered in Lincoln, Ill., and founded in 1996, Integrity Data serves over 8,000 organizations worldwide. Integrity Data’s leadership in technology for Affordable Care Act reporting compliance includes being the first software company to meet the IRS testing requirements for electronic filing of ACA returns by employers.

Corporate Headquarters
Integrity Data
125 N. Kickapoo
Lincoln, IL 62656
http://www.integrity-data.com
info(at)integrity-data(dot)com
888.786.6162 Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.
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Missouri senators consider government role in road safety

February 10, 2016, 1:07 pm
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(AP) — A Senate panel is considering four bills that would change Missouri's laws on texting while driving, seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. Another bill would allow motorcycle riders older than 21 who have health insurance to ride without a helmet. Reported by SeattlePI.com 8 hours ago.
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