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Workplace HSA Programs: What Employers and Advisors Need to Know
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Pay or Play Strategies: Workforce Restructuring Risks
October 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(Littler Mendelson)

Outsourcing Actuarial Services – Ethical Issues
October 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Practical Considerations for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries after Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer
October 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB])

The Continuing Evolution of Hybrid Plans: The Latest on the IRS' Regulations and Guidance
November 4, 2014 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

Finally Final! Hybrid Regulations and What They Mean
November 5, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

How to Work Social Security Into Your Client’s Retirement Portfolios
November 5, 2014 WEBCAST
(ThinkAdvisor)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of OPM Final Regs: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Modification of Eligibility to Certain Employees on Temporary Appointments and Certain Employees on Seasonal and Intermittent Schedules
"This final rule modifies eligibility by authorizing enrollment in a FEHB health plan for certain non-Postal Federal employees on temporary appointments and certain non-Postal employees working on seasonal and intermittent schedules.... This final rule allows newly eligible employees (employees on an appointment limited to 1 year and employees working on a seasonal or intermittent schedule) to initially enroll under the FEHB program with a Government contribution to premium if they are expected to be employed on a full-time schedule and are expected to work for at least 90 days ... Enrollments for employees newly eligible pursuant to this rule will be accepted during a 60-day period after the employing office notifies employees of their eligibility to enroll in a FEHB health plan." (Office of Personnel Management [OPM])  

[Guidance Overview]

HPID Advisory Update
"CMS confirmed that individual, fully insured, employer group health plans/policies are subhealth plans (SHPs) controlled by the health insurance company that issued and controls the plans/policies.... CMS stated that neither health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) nor health savings accounts (HSAs) are required to obtain an HPID because they are 'individual accounts directed by the consumer to pay health care costs.' ... [W]hile this guidance may appear to be welcome news for employers with only fully insured plans and health FSAs or HRAs (whose only potential HPID enumeration responsibility would be because of the health FSA or HRA), it is not consistent with HIPAA's definition of health plan[.]" (Alston & Bird LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

A Look at the HPID Application Experience
"Small health plans that report annual receipts of $5 million or less (not to be confused with sub-health plans) will have an additional year to obtain an HPID. HPIDs must be used in all standard transactions beginning November 7, 2016. Self-insured health plans may authorize a third-party administrator to obtain an HPID on its behalf, but the HPID will belong to the health plan and it remains the obligation of the health plan to ensure the HPID is obtained by the deadline." (Verrill Dana LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

Health Plan Identifiers: November 5, 2014 Deadline
"A 'controlling' health plan (CHP) is defined as a health plan that controls its own business activities and policies or is controlled by a non-health plan, and if it has a sub-health plan, it controls that plan's activities.... This 'control' test, which is used to identify CHPs, does not appear to produce sensible (much less predictable) results when applied to single-employer self-insured group health plans. Since the terms of these plans are established by their sponsors and they are invariably administered by either their sponsors or by a third party, it seems possible to conclude that every single program or coverage ... could qualify as a separate CHP[.]" (BakerHostetler)  

[Guidance Overview]

Proposed Approach for Applying the 'Look-Back' Method When the Section 4980H Measurement Period Changes
"The [IRS] recently issued Notice 2014-49 which describes a proposed approach for determining an employee's full-time or part-time status for purposes of the employer shared responsibility rules under section 4980H ... when: [1] the employee's job within the controlled group of companies changes, and [2] a look-back methodology is used to determine full-time or part-time status for both the old job and the new job, but different look-back methodologies are used for the old and the new job. The approach proposed in Notice 2014-49 may also be used when an employee's job is affected by a merger, acquisition or other corporate transaction." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

Four More New Jersey Cities Enact Paid Sick Leave Laws (PDF)
5 pages. "Four New Jersey municipalities -- Passaic, Paterson, Irvington, and East Orange -- recently enacted ordinances requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees ... The Ordinances will take effect in January 2015 ... Under the Ordinances, an 'employer' is any individual or entity except the federal, state, or city government. Equally broad is the term 'employee,' which includes any individual who works in the particular municipality for at least 80 hours ... Employers must provide a written notice of rights under the law to each employee individually as soon as practicable when an Ordinance goes into effect, and thereafter to each new hire at the time employment commences." (Proskauer Rose LLP)  

Administration Signals Doubts About Calculator That Allows Health Plans Without Hospital Benefits
"Treasury Department officials are preparing to reverse course on an official calculator that permits plans without hospital coverage to pass the health law's strictest standard for large employers ... HHS designed the calculator, but Treasury is charged with enforcing the minimum-value standard.... Preliminary results from a member survey by the American Staffing Association show that 46 percent of the temp and recruiting firms that responded are considering such coverage for next year[.]" (Kaiser Health News)  

Trends in Employment-Based Health Insurance Coverage
"Employee access to employer-provided health insurance declined from 1991 to 2000, chiefly because of relatively low rates of access among part-time workers.... From 1991 until 2012, the access rate for all workers declined from 77.3 percent to 70.2 percent. There was little change among full-time workers, whose access rates fell from 87.8 percent to 86.4 percent (although they were higher at some points during the period examined). The drop among part-time workers, however, was much steeper -- from 28.8 percent to 23.7 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

To 'SHOP' or Not: Finding the Right Exchange Path for Your Small Business
"Most smaller companies (approximately 64.8 percent) do not offer health insurance to employees, and although SHOP offers tax credits, they're only available to businesses with a high percentage of low-income workers who would likely be eligible for Medicaid or significant subsidies on the individual exchanges. In these cases, a business may be doing its employees a disservice by offering health insurance, because providing employer-sponsored insurance prevents employees from receiving subsidies on the individual exchange." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

Public and Union Employers Attack Upcoming 'Cadillac Plan' Excise Tax
"The truth for most employers is that the Affordable Care Act's feared excise tax is coming in 2018. In the public sector, major employers such as the City of Boston are utilizing vendor and plan management strategies, with the help of union negotiations, to control their health plan costs.... 'If you're trying to change the employer/employee contribution mix, that is not going to affect your excise tax liability,' [Kathryn L. Bakich, Segal's national health compliance practice leader] said ... That's 'because you're looking at the value of the plan -- not who pays the premiums.'" (Employee Benefit News)  

Health Savings Accounts Under the ACA: Challenges and Opportunities for Consumer-Directed Health Plans
"Recent evidence suggests that high-deductible health plans in the employer market have played a significant role in moderating premium-cost increases over the last several years -- 'bending the curve' for employer health care spending. If HSA-eligible plans are structured correctly in ACA exchanges, such plans could play a similar role in the non-group market (as the number of enrollees with individual coverage grows quickly over the next few years)." (Manhattan Institute for Policy Research)  

Now That Almost Every Large Employer Has One, EEOC Targets Wellness Programs (PDF)
"According to the EEOC, wellness programs are becoming more popular, and 94 percent of employers with more than 200 workers offer one, as well as a majority of all employers.... [A]fter the initiation of the Orion suit, the EEOC reiterated that voluntary wellness programs are completely legal and encouraged, 'but they have to be actually voluntary.... Having to choose between responding to medical exams and inquiries -- which are not job-related -- in a wellness program, on the one hand, or being fired, on the other hand, is no choice at all.'" (Winston & Strawn)  

California Health Plans on Notice: Drug Lists Will Be Standardized
"[A] new law in California ... will eventually require all plans in California to use a standard formulary.... The new law ... requires the two insurance state regulators ... to devise a standard formulary by Jan. 1, 2017. Within six months after the template is developed, all insurance plans in California, not just those on the exchange, will have to conform to that template and post regular formulary updates." (HealthLeaders InterStudy)  

CMS Offers Some ACOs $114 Million for 'Upfront' Costs
"Administered through the CMS Innovation Center, loan eligibility targets ACOs that joined the Shared Savings Program in 2012, 2013, or 2014, and new ACOs joining the Shared Savings Program in 2016." (HealthLeaders Media)  

Process for Renewing Individual Coverage for 2015 Through FFM
"FFM Consumers will receive one of six notices. Consumers who visited the marketplace in 2014 and were determined eligible for coverage, but who did not enroll, are being sent a notice urging them to return to the marketplace and enroll when the open enrollment period begins. Consumers who enrolled for 2014 but have not been receiving tax credits -- because they were not eligible, did not apply, or were determined eligible for tax credits but declined assistance -- are urged to return to the marketplace and reenroll in coverage." (Health Affairs)  

Potential for Consumer Confusion in Marketplace Renewal Process
"Insurers expressed concern about consumers who choose to leave one health plan and sign up for another offered by a different insurance company. The federal government is not planning to send a notice to the first insurer terminating the consumer's enrollment. As a result, consumers may receive bills or invoices from both companies. And conceivably, insurers said, if premiums are paid from bank accounts by electronic funds transfer, the money could be deducted twice." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Text of Eleventh Circuit Opinion: Definition of Plan Term Found Only in Extrinsic Documents Does Not Render Plan Document Ambiguous (PDF)
"[B]ecause the Plan defines 'Normal Retirement Date' in reference to Meadowcraft's 'published or accepted personnel practices,' it was necessary for the district court to examine extrinsic evidence of Meadowcraft's personnel practices to determine the Normal Retirement Date. This does not mean the contract was ambiguous. Courts routinely examine extrinsic evidence to determine the meaning of contract terms even while holding that the contract is unambiguous." [Snow v. Boston Mutual Life Ins. Co., No. 13-15067 (11th Cir. Oct. 16, 2014)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit)  

What Are the Costs and Risks to Administrators When District Courts Remand Benefit Denials Back to Them?
"[Two recent cases] form an interesting counter to the preference of administrators and their lawyers to seek a remand, rather than an outright reversal, when a district court finds problems with an administrator's benefit determination. They stand for the proposition that administrators may be able to seek that relief, but if they get it, they will have to pay attorney's fees to the participant and will not have an opportunity to test the remand order on appeal until the entire benefit dispute has been conclusively resolved once and for all at the district court level." (Stephen Rosenberg of The Wagner Law Group)  

ISS Releases 2015 Draft Policies
"ISS is proposing to use an equity plan scorecard composed of three categories: Plan Cost; Plan Features; and, Grant Practices. In some respects, it appears that ISS is simply reshuffling some of the existing components of its equity plan proposal policy.... ISS also indicated that the Equity Plan Scorecard would have its factors and weightings keyed to company size and status ... ISS also indicates that its options overhang carve-out policy would no longer be available. Likewise, companies would no longer be able to make a burn rate commitment as they had in the past to avoid a negative ISS vote recommendation when their burn rate exceeded their industry burn rate cap." (EdwardHauder.com)  

The Principal Unveils Retirement Wellness Score for Participants
Principal Financial Group

PBGC to Pay Benefits at Reichhold Inc.
PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation]

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