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The Dec Page
The WSJ reports on the Deloitte survey of employers:
You just received your medical loss rebate check. Now what? Well, it depends. Here is the U.S. Department of Labor's "guidance" on the payment of rebates. The first thing to do is get your go-to tax advisor/CPA on the phone.
Yesterday, we reported on the imminent issuance of medical loss ratio (MLR) rebates. This morning brings our first notice of a rebate issuance from . . . Humana! Here is the text of Humana's rebate notice:
We have previously reported on Obamacare's Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rules here. A quick recap is warranted. The MLR rules require health insurers providing fully insured plans to spend at least 80% (85% on large groups) of premium dollars on claims, keeping only 20% (or 15% on large groups) for administrative costs, etc.
Summer is the time for fun and play in the sun. In Houston, Texas, Summer is also time to sweat. We had record breaking heat in June with triple digit temperatures. This July has been a wet heat. That's not the good kind. Yet, I have slept comfortably in my bed each night. Thankfully, my job does not involve too much real sweat because I work in an office.
Builder’s risk insurance (course of construction insurance) is critical to contractors. It is also highly unpredictable and dangerous . . . just like dragons.
It’s unpredictable because:
there is no standard form – coverage varies widely;
Worker misclassification is a problem without a good solution. It is already against both federal and state law, but it is still rampant among employers, especially in the construction industry. Why?
Twenty-one year old Texan, Kent Chipman, was serving aboard the USS Kirk when he saw the 10-month old baby dropped from the back of the Chinook helicopter hovering 15 feet above the fantail of the Kirk. "I remember the baby coming out," he recalled. "You know, there was no way that we were going to let them hit the deck or drop them. We caught them." "Catching babies like basketballs" was how another sailor described the scene.
Many commentators are dissenting from the view that Chief Justice Roberts abandoned his principles in deciding to uphold Obamacare as a constitutional tax. They point out the strength of his opinion that Obamacare is unconstitutional under the commerce clause. This could start a rebirth in restrictions on congressional power.
Having now read the opinion, I am hoping that Justice Roberts's children have been returned to him safe and unharmed. I can think of no other reason for his opinion in today's shocking result. It is usually fun to see the opinions of experts be washed away by the hard facts of actual events. Today may be an exception. No one foresaw this result: that we would have a 5-4 decision upholding Obamacare as a constitutional tax.