“The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Employer Shared Responsibility provision, commonly referred to as the Employer Mandate, requires all employers with 50 employees, or 50 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs), to provide health insurance coverage beginning in 2014. Similar to the law’s individual mandate to carry health insurance, noncompliance carries a fine, levied to help offset the cost of providing insurance coverage in the ACA’s state based insurance exchanges.”
“Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is considering expanding health coverage for the poor without the approval of the state legislature, a move that would muscle his top priority past Republican opponents but also throw his young administration into a partisan firestorm and uncertain legal territory.”
“Around 900,000 Medi-Cal applicants statewide — 300,000 of them in Los Angeles County — are still awaiting final processing of their applications, state and local officials said Wednesday.”
“In April, the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest numbers, which easily beats expectations of around 215,000 hires. The unemployment rate dropped to an encouraging 6.3 percent, but not because of that impressive headline number.”
“My mother is not one to seek attention by complaining, so her recent woeful Facebook post caught my eye: “The poor get poorer.” It diverged from the more customary stream of inspirational quotes, recipes and snapshots from her tiny cottage in Pierce County, Wash. The post continued: “I just received a notice: ‘In order to comply with the new healthcare law, your current health plan will be discontinued on December 31, 2013.'”