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134 Matching News Items

1.  2021 ABD Employee Benefit Plan Compliance Guides
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Jan. 11, 2021
Article provides links to a dozen compliance guides covering various aspects of health plan benefit design and administration.
2.  Financial Wellness During COVID-19: Moving from Panic Towards Peace (PDF)
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Apr. 2, 2020
65 presentation slides addressed to plan participants. Topics: [1] Recent market volatility and perspective; [2] Financial relief programs; [3] CARES Act, federal and private-sector relief; [4] Opportunities; [5] 401(k)/retirement accounts; [6] Refinancing debt in low interest rate environment; [7] Adjusting your spending and scenario planning; [8] Tools & resources.
3.  New Hampshire Optional Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Coming in 2023
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Aug. 5, 2021
"The intent of this law is to leverage the purchasing power and economies of scale available to the state of New Hampshire by contracting with an insurance carrier or carriers to create an insured paid family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) benefit. The state's newly created FMLI Advisory Board ... is tasked with creating an RFP to be distributed no later than March 31, 2022, with an anticipated effective date of January 1, 2023."
4.  Washington Long-Term Care Insurance Payroll Tax Begins in 2022
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
June 3, 2021
"Employees are charged a premium assessment of .58% of wages ($.58 for every $100 earned). The original cap of 1% of earnings has been removed. The payroll tax is funded exclusively by employee contributions. Unlike the WA Paid Family Medical Leave program, there is no employer contribution component to the WA Cares Fund payroll tax."
5.  California Enacts Individual Health Insurance Mandate and Expands Paid Family Leave
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
July 3, 2019
"California now joins Massachusetts and New Jersey with a state-based individual mandate requiring residents to maintain health coverage.... [It] is likely that employers will have a reporting requirement similar to the requirement imposed on New Jersey employers.... California's current six-week maximum period of PFL ... will increase to eight weeks as of July 2020.... The stated goal in the bill is to eventually increase PFL to a 12-week maximum in 2021-22. That would provide for a total paid family leave period of six months where utilized by two parents."
6.  Several States Order Insurers to Waive Cost-Sharing for COVID-19 Testing
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Mar. 8, 2020
"At least three states have now directed insurance carriers to waive all health plan cost-sharing associated with COVID-19 testing: California, New York [and] Washington.... More states are likely to follow in the coming weeks. Even for those states without a directive to waive COVID-19 testing cost-sharing, insurance carriers may move voluntarily to make such services available at no cost to employees and family members."
7.  New York to Offer Paid Family Leave in 2018; DC Law to Take Effect in 2019
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
May 31, 2017
"New York is set to become the fourth state [to offer paid family and medical leave] effective January 1, 2018. The program will be phased in over a four-year period and will be funded by an employee payroll deduction estimated to be between $.45 to $1.00 per week. While the payroll deduction is scheduled to begin July 1, 2017 in advance of the law taking effect, the State Superintendent of Financial Services has not yet released the maximum employee contribution."
8.  Five Years Down, But Final ACA Implementation Phase Still Looms: Insured Plan Nondiscrimination, Automatic Enrollment, and Cadillac Tax
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Mar. 22, 2015
"[1] Health FSA: The statute specifically provides that both employer contributions (including through flex credits) and employee salary reduction contributions will count toward the Cadillac tax limit. [2] HSA: The statute states that 'employer contributions' to an HSA count toward the Cadillac tax limit. However, the IRS has determined that because employee pre-tax salary reduction contributions to an HSA are treated as employer contributions for tax purposes, both employer and employee contributions will count toward the Cadillac tax.... [3] HRA amounts -- which are funded solely by the employer -- will also count toward the Cadillac tax limit. The IRS is considering how best to determine the cost of coverage provided under an HRA, including potentially relying on the amounts made newly available to a participant each year (and not carryover amounts made available prior to 2018)."
9.  2019 Health FSA Limit Projection, Final San Francisco HCSO Amounts for 2019
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Sept. 16, 2018
"ABD is projecting that for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, the health FSA salary reduction contribution limit will increase to $2,700 (up from $2,650 currently).... The increase will not be official until the IRS releases its annual inflation-adjusted limits.... The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) ... recently released the updated 2019 HCSO required health expenditure rates."
10.  2018 Health FSA Limit Projection, New SF HCSO Amounts, and Revised Contraception Rules
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Oct. 10, 2017
"ABD is projecting that for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, the health FSA salary reduction contribution limit will increase to $2,650 (up from $2,600 currently).... The increase will not be official until the IRS releases its annual inflation-adjusted limits [typically in late October].... The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) also recently released the updated 2018 HCSO required health expenditure rates."
11.  July 31 PCORI Filing Deadline Is Quickly Approaching
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
June 29, 2017
"The PCORI fee generally applies only to major medical plans and health reimbursement arrangement (HRAs).... However, the PCORI rules provide an exception to the fee requirement for an HRA where it is offered along with a self-insured major medical plan that has the same plan year as the HRA. This avoids the need to pay the PCORI fee for both the HRA and the self-insured major medical plan (i.e., each person covered by both plans is counted only once for purposes of determining the PCORI fee). There is no exception from the PCORI fee for an HRA offered along with fully insured major medical coverage."
12.  The CAA Mental Health Parity Comparative Analysis Requirement
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
July 9, 2021
"[T]he DOL expects to focus on the following four NQTLs in its near-term enforcement efforts: [1] Prior authorization requirements for in-network and out-of-network inpatient services; [2] Concurrent review for in-network and out-of-network inpatient and outpatient services; [3] Standards for provider admission to participate in a network, including reimbursement rates; and [4] Out-of-network reimbursement rates (plan methods for determining usual, customary, and reasonable charges)."
13.  New HSA and ACA Reprieves for Veterans in Latest Highway Funding Bill
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Aug. 11, 2015
"[One] new change permits veterans enrolled in a HDHP (with no other disqualifying coverage) and who have a service-connected disability to make or receive HSA contributions regardless of when they received VA benefits. In other words, veterans with a service-connected disability will not be blocked from HSA eligibility merely because they accessed VA benefits in the prior three months.... [Another change] change provides employers with a new incentive to expand their workforce by hiring veterans who will not count toward the ALE status determination."
14.  ACA Reporting and COBRA
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Dec. 13, 2020
"Employers with fully insured medical plans must address COBRA in ACA reporting only where the qualifying event is triggered by a reduction in hours. Employers with self-insured medical plans must report COBRA coverage in all situations because of the Section 6055 coverage reporting requirements in Part III of the Form 1095-C."
15.  Key Decision Points in ACA Reporting Vendor Setup Questionnaires, Part 4: Miscellaneous Questions
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Sept. 28, 2020
"Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC)? Almost always 'yes' ... Minimum value (MV)? Almost always 'yes'.... Self-insured? 'Yes' if medical plan option is not fully insured.... Aggregated ALE group? 'Yes' if multiple EINs in employer's controlled group.... Qualifying offer method? 'Yes' if using federal poverty line affordability safe harbor.... 98% offer method? Recommend 'no'.... Rule of parity? Recommend 'yes'.... Authoritative transmittal? Almost always 'yes'.... Conditional offer of spousal coverage? Almost always 'no'.... Equivalency hours for salaried employees? Almost always 'yes'."
16.  When Is HIPAA Training Required?
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
June 8, 2020
"All employer-sponsored group health plans, including fully insured plans, are HIPAA covered entities.... Employers with a self-insured health plan need to maintain a HIPAA firewall that ensures only those employees with a plan-related need ... are permitted access to the plan's PHI.... HIPAA training is required for an employee within a reasonable period of time upon joining the covered entity's workforce, which includes a new hire within the HIPAA firewall or an existing employee moved to a position within the firewall."
17.  House Passes Free COVID-19 Testing Coverage Mandate for All Group Health Plans
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Mar. 16, 2020
"[HR 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)] requires that all employer-sponsored group health plans -- including fully insured, self-insured, and grandfathered plans -- cover COVID-19 testing expenses without any cost sharing. The mandate would apply to diagnostic testing, including the cost of a provider, urgent care center, and emergency room visits in order to receive testing. This means that no group health plan could impose any deductibles, copays, coinsurance, or any other form of out-of-pocket expense for any covered individual who receives COVID-19 testing."
18.  2020 ACA Reporting Deadline for 2019 Forms Extended by 30 Days (Again)
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Dec. 4, 2019
"This relief with respect to insurance carriers furnishing coverage information to individuals on the Form 1095-B does not apply to ALE employers reporting on the Form 1095-C.... Employers sponsoring a self-insured medical plan are still required to complete Part III of the Form 1095-C for any full-time employee enrolled in that plan in 2019 (even though that information is related to the Section 6055 reporting requirements)."
19.  Oh HSA Can You See ... a $2,600 Minimum HDHP Deductible
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
June 30, 2016
"As a result of a California law taking full effect in 2017, the minimum HDHP individual deductible will be $2,600.... California AB 1305 generally requires fully insured California policies to have an embedded individual deductible on a family plan that is no greater than the policy's individual deductible for coverage starting in 2017.... [T]he HDHP rules prevent including an embedded individual deductible that is lower than the minimum required deductible for family HDHP coverage ($2,600 in 2016/2017).... For fully insured 2017 California HDHP policies, the individual deductible will need to be increased to at least $2,600 to maintain HDHP status."
20.  What's Left to Prepare For, Now That ACA Auto-Enrollment Is Gone?
ABD Insurance & Financial Services Link to more items from this source
Nov. 9, 2015
"With the repeal of the auto-enrollment provisions, there are only two major ACA items yet to take effect for employer-sponsored group health plans. [1] Nondiscrimination rules for fully insured plans ... The Departments continue to informally suggest that these insured plan nondiscrimination rules are not a high priority at the moment, and therefore it does not appear that any guidance is imminent.... [2] The granddaddy of them all: the Cadillac Tax -- effective 2018."
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