Does anyone know of a company, law firm, etc. that provides the servic

[Guest Kim Guynan]

Does anyone know of a company, law firm, etc. that provides the service of licensing TPAs in all 50 states?

[david rigby]

What do you mean by "licensing" ?

[thepensionmaven]

To the best of my knowledge, TPAs are not licensed per say, most, such as myself, have credentials or intials after their names.

I wouldn't call the credentials "licenses", however.

We are not licensed in the sense that an attorney is licensed.

We have credentials and carry liability insurance, and hopefully, like attorneys, have years of experience behind us.

[Bill Presson]

FYI, Kentucky does have licensing for TPA's.

[Michael Devault]

Texas also requires TPAs to be licensed. I believe that Ohio has similar laws. My firm looked into this about 3 years ago and couldn't find a source for this information. We had to resort to hiring a law firm to conduct the research necessary to determine which states do and do not require TPAs to be licensed.

Good luck!

[richard]

Does that mean that a TPA domiciled in a state that does not require a license cannot service a client based in a state that does require a license (e.g., Texas, Kentucky or Ohio)?

What about a client that is based in a state that does not require a license but has employees covered in the plan in a state that does require a license?

And while we are on the topic, for the purpose of licensing, what does "TPA" mean?

After all, TPAs do lots of things, including administration (with full fiduciary responsiblity), ministerial administration (without fiduciation responsbility, if structured correctly), consulting, actuarial services, etc.

[thepensionmaven]

TPA stands for Third Party Administrator. The Employer is designated as the Plan Administrator in the plan document, usually, and retains the services of a "Third Paty Administrator" to erform the duties of plan administration: calculation of eligibility, who shares in the contribution, who shares in the plan's earnings, etc.

TPAs usually have a retainer agreement which dekineates what we will do for a client and how much we will charge. Services as well as fees vary widely.

[Guest TPA Licensing]

I am replying to an old post, but it comes up on search engines so I thought maybe some people might benefit from the response:

Visit the link below for informaton about my company, which provides TPA licensing services. I've also provided some general information about TPA licensing requirements below the link. Currently, there are 41 states that have a TPA licensing requirement. Here's the link:

CRS Licensing (www.CRSlicensing.com)

Generally, most states define a TPA as a company that collects premium and/or administers claims on behalf of residents of the particular state with respect to life or health insurance benefit plans. This definition varies from state to state, but that is a general definition that most states use to determine whether a TPA has to be licensed.

From there, some states allow exemptions from TPA licensure for administrators that solely administer self-funded employer plans where no insurance carrier is involved, while other states do require TPA licensure of those same administrators in their states. The impact of ERISA licensing preemptions, COBRA administration, stop loss insurance, and other factors can impact whether a particular TPA is required to be licensed in a given state. This is an area that is changing constantly and in which many of my firm's TPA clients come to us with questions and requests for research, etc..

Hope this is helpful.

Joe Patton

CRS Licensing