Health Care Law Blog
On October 11, 2012, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Healthcare Forum. A half-day event, the Healthcare Forum brings together mid-Michigan leaders in the health care industry to provide updates on the latest issues. This year’s forum, titled “Countdown to 2014 – The Tools to Conform to Healthcare Reform,” drew nearly 100 attendees and featured topics including:
Curiously, traditional registered nurses ("RNs"), excepting Canadian and Mexican RNs under NAFTA, lack a general temporary visa category to work in the United States. While there are favorable provisions for an RN to obtain permanent resident status (a “Green Card”) based upon employment, the lengthy eligibility wait time for the permanent visa category limits the practical usefulness of these provisions in many cases. Currently, temporary visa options for nurses are limited to the following.
At the end of August, Governor Rick Snyder announced that Michigan will be pursuing a federal-state partnership for its health insurance exchange. Health insurance exchanges are a requirement of the federal Health Care Reform law. Health insurance exchanges are designed to facilitate the purchase of health insurance by consumers through an online, cost-competitive forum. Each state has the option to: (1) operate its own health insurance exchange; (2) partner with the federal government; or (3) allow the federal government to manage its health insurance exchange.
