At the end of 2006, the resident population of the United States was approximately 300 million. Roughly 250 million people had some form of health insurance. The operative word is roughly. People obtain health insurance from a variety of sources. Many of them have access to and sometimes coverage from more than one source. Moreover, they may not have coverage for the entire year, and there is no single repository of data on who has what sort of coverage over what period of time. Thus, a person living in a two-earner household may have coverage from both workers, from only one, or from nether. (more…)

In 1989, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Sixth Circuit discussed the possible implications and restrictions of defined contributions health care plans. In this case, Adkins v. United States, lumpsum payments to employees (taxpayers) made in settlement of lawsuits against a former employer concerning the employer’s proposed termination of contributions to a hospital-medical benefits plan did not fall within provisions of section 106, which excludes contributions by employer to accident or health plans from gross income. The statute did not provide exemption for payments made by the employer directly to employees. (more…)

Uninsured subcontractors are often just a necessary evil in some types of construction jobs. But if you are the contractor who is hiring extra help, and this help is uninsured, you should know what you need to do on the front end to be sure that this cheap labor option doesn’t turn out to be the most expensive help you’ve ever hired. Understanding exactly how uninsured subs will affect your general liability (more…)