Retirement Plan Sales Specialist
Envoy Financial
in CO

Investor Services Manager
ICMA-RC
in DC, MD, VA

Retirement Plan Administrator
APEX Benefits Administration
in WA

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Non-Calendar-Year Plans and Health Care Reform: Understanding the Special Rules and Exceptions
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

A Step-by-Step Guide to Navigating the New Employee Benefits Landscape
December 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of OPM Proposed Regs: Establishment of the Multi-State Plan Program for the Affordable Insurance Exchanges
83 pages. "This proposed rule clarifies the approach used to enforce the applicable requirements of the Affordable Care Act with respect to health insurance issuers that contract with OPM to offer [Multi-State Plan (MSP)] options. This proposed rule amends MSP standards related to coverage area, benefits, and certain contracting provisions under section 1334 of the Affordable Care Act. This document also makes non-substantive technical changes." (Office of Personnel Management)  

[Advert.]

Forum on Rewarding Healthy Behaviors – Feb 4-5 2015 – Las Vegas

Learn from Employee Health leaders how innovative workplace wellness strategies, preventive health management initiatives and evidence-based success impact workforce productivity, improve overall employee wellness and increase ROI.

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Rev. Rul. 2014-32: Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits Using Smartcards, Restricted Debit Cards, Cash Reimbursement Arrangements (PDF)
Revenue Ruling 2014-32 updates previous guidance on the use of smartcards, debit or credit cards, or other electronic media to provide qualified transportation fringe benefits to employees. This revenue ruling also provides guidance on the use by employees of debit cards for paying mandatory shipping fees on transit passes. Finally, the revenue ruling provides that after December 31, 2015, employers may no longer provide qualified transit fringe benefits under a bona fide cash reimbursement arrangement in cases in which a terminal-restricted debit card is the only readily available transit pass in the employer's geographic area. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

2015 Is Lurking: Are Your Health and Welfare and Cafeteria Plans Up-to-Date?
"While very few changes are mandatory, there have been several legal developments over the past year that present the opportunity to make design changes to these plans. So curl up by the fire with a hot cup of cocoa and those plan documents and review this list of potential year-end health and welfare and cafeteria plan amendments." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

ACA Fees, and Forms, and Delays, Oh My!
"In the latest round of delays under the [ACA], ... the deadline for health plans to provide enrollment information to the transitional reinsurance program has been extended to December 5, 2014.... [E]mployer health plan sponsors should take note of [these additional upcoming] ACA-related deadlines: ... And [here are] a few reminders of ongoing obligations and other recent changes that employers should keep on their radar screens[.]" (Ogletree Deakins)  

Private Exchanges for Employer-Sponsored Health Plans: Panacea or Problem?
"[E]mployers ... will want to critically review the vendor contracts and operating systems of the vendors that will participate in the program ... [for] prudence for inclusion, prohibited transactions, and other legal compliance, as well as to ensure that the contract by its terms holds the vendor responsible for delivering on service and other expectations created in the sales pitch.... [S]pecial attention should be given to fiduciary allocations, indemnification and standards of performance, business associate or other privacy and data security assurances required to comply with HIPAA and other confidentiality and data security requirements[.]" (Solutions Law Press)  

[Advert.]

Discover the different types of health exchanges and how they work

December 10 webinar. Exchanges are a primary mechanism to help individuals and employers make better healthcare decisions and control costs. Take a deep dive into the different types of exchanges, how they work and who can enroll. BenefitsLink discount.

Is Self-Insuring the Answer for Employer Health Plans? It Depends on the Question.
"It may be that simple plan design changes can be made that make your current funding status more affordable.... Even if the employer contracts out for administration services, the obligations of compliance still fall to the employer.... Self-funded plans are subject to testing requirements that are not in place for insured plans. Plus there are the added reporting requirements of being self-funded. The annual cost of these types of administrative issues has to be taken into account before making a final determination." (Fox Rothschild LLP)  

Mainstream Wellness Program Challenged in EEOC v. Honeywell
"Despite the ACA's laudable policy goals of promoting affordable health care and transforming America's workers into a healthier and more productive workforce, the EEOC decided to file the Orion and Flambeau suits, and far more surprisingly, the Honeywell suit -- after dragging its feet for 14 years on providing meaningful guidance.... [T]he lack of long-sought EEOC guidance on how to promote participation through reasonable incentives and costs, coupled with concerns stemming from undue litigation risks, may challenge the use of certain financial incentives that could make the use of wellness programs more effective." (Epstein Becker Green)  

EEOC Casts Uncertainty on Popular Wellness Programs
"The EEOC has not issued any guidance as to what constitutes a 'voluntary' wellness program for purposes of the ADA, but has suggested informally that even a program that rewards participation rather than penalizing non-participation may not be voluntary.... [T]he ADA's limits on wellness programs, unlike those under HIPAA and the ACA, apply to all wellness programs, not just those offered as part of a group health plan." (Blank Rome LLP)  

EEOC Needs to Coordinate Wellness Guidance With ERISA Agencies, Attorneys Say
"The [EEOC's] lawsuit alleging that Honeywell International Inc.'s wellness program violated anti-discrimination laws is a 'gross overstep' that should provide a 'wake-up call' to President Barack Obama's administration to take a better coordinated approach to developing wellness program guidance for benefits plan sponsors, said benefits attorneys with Groom Law Group Chartered.... While the three agencies responsible for enforcing the [ACA] -- the [DOL] and departments of Treasury and [HHS] -- have 'gone above and beyond' in providing guidance to the plan sponsor community to encourage the use of wellness programs, the EEOC hasn't developed any sponsor guidance, instead relying on its enforcement guidelines, said Thomas F. Fitzgerald, principal." (Bloomberg BNA)  

BLS Reports on Trends in Employment-Based Health Insurance Coverage
"Health insurance constitutes the largest share of non-cash compensation for private-sector workers and rose from 32% of non-cash compensation in 1991 to 39% in 2012.... Between 1991 and 2012, the cost of health insurance paid by employers tripled while wages only rose 83%. From 1991 to 2002, employee access to employer-provided health insurance declined, primarily due to relatively low rates of access among part-time workers." (Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company)  

Health Enrollment Counting Error Shows Where HealthCare.gov Is Still Broken
"Though the consumer-facing part of HealthCare.gov appears to be working much better than last year, the administration acknowledges that what it calls the 'back end' of the health insurance enrollment system is still unfinished.... The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked for the enrollment records behind the [September enrollment] number. Caitlin Carroll, a spokeswoman for the committee, said it came in the form of 289 Excel spreadsheets, each with the enrollments for an individual health plan in a given state." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

People Who Wanted Market-Driven Health Care Now Have It in the Affordable Care Act
"The United States never adopted a simple national health plan to cover everyone. Instead, we have relied primarily on employer-based health insurance, generously favored by tax laws.... Millions of people were left out of employer-based coverage and were not old enough or poor enough to qualify for the public programs. For 50 years, we have been arguing over how to fill that hole. Meanwhile, health care became more effective but also more expensive, and the number of people without coverage grew.... The compromise was to combine markets with regulation, sometimes called 'managed competition,' now called 'the Affordable Care Act.' " (The Brookings Institution)  

[Opinion]

The Way We Pay for Health Care Is Broken, and Here's Why
"Across the nation, large employers, health systems, health plans and other purchasers have endeavored to transform health care through innovation. The goal is to increase access, enhance care quality and improve the health of populations while controlling costs and bettering value. However promising, these new care models are unsustainable in the predominantly fee-for-service environment where payment is dictated by volume and not linked to quality or efficiency. This payment model doesn't realize the potential that investments in prevention can have in improving health and reducing costs over the long-term." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Ascende Wins Marcom Gold Award for Impressive Enrollment Campaign
Ascende

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