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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter
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[Official Guidance]
HHS Fact Sheet: Medical Loss Ratio—Getting Your Money's Worth on Health Insurance
"The changes in this final rule largely address technical issues involved in the way issuers calculate and report their MLR and the mechanism for distributing rebates to enrollees in group health plans."
(U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight)
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Ad campaigns are expensive, but BeneCom’s benefit statements are an economical promotional tool you can use to “advertise” the value of your benefits – value that’s often ignored. So, discover BeneCom’s impact on your benefits, not your budget!
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[Guidance Overview]
Proposed New Enforcement Procedures and Reporting for MEWAs (PDF)
"While the objective of these rules is to police fraudulent or otherwise abusive arrangements in the marketplace, as discussed above, a bona fide welfare plan covering employees of multiple members of a business enterprise sometimes can also be a MEWA, depending on the ownership, control and other structural relationships in that enterprise. The consequences of the proposed reporting rules in those circumstances should be carefully considered . . . ."
(Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
Court Considers Whether Reduction of Hours to Zero Triggered COBRA Notice
"The employee's argument that she had a loss of coverage when she was required to make payment other than through payroll deduction is not far-fetched. Another trial court has held that a similar change in the method by which an employee was required to make contributions resulted in a loss of coverage for COBRA purposes."
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
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Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns of First-Time Mothers: 1961–2008 (PDF)
"The report first analyzes trends in women's work experience prior to their first birth and the factors associated with employment during pregnancy. Changes are placed in the historical context of the enactment of family-related legislation during the last quarter of the twentieth century."
(U.S. Census Bureau)
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Insurance Brokers and the Medical Loss Ratio
"Brokers and agents — often referred to as insurance 'producers' — not surprisingly are concerned that the MLR requirement will put pressure on insurers to cut back on administrative expenses, including sales commissions. Exempting broker commissions from the MLR calculation would mean that insurers could more easily meet the MLR thresholds without making changes to broker compensation. But that would also likely lead to higher premiums and smaller rebates for consumers."
(The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Guidance Overview]
New IRS Ruling Discusses Tax Deductions for Cash Bonus Payments
"The IRS recently published Rev. Rul. 2011-29 relating to the federal income tax deduction for cash bonus payments by accrual basis taxpayers. The legal issue was whether the first requirement of the 'all events test' was satisfied at the end of the employer's tax year."
(Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, P.L.C.)
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[Guidance Overview]
Supreme Court Declines to Apply Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege: What Implications for ERISA Plans?
"[T]he U.S. Supreme Court considered the 'fiduciary exception' for the first time in a non-ERISA setting and found that the United States, as trustee of tribal property, was entitled to confidential communications with its legal counsel despite its fiduciary status. The Supreme Court's rejection of the 'fiduciary exception' in this context has raised hope that ERISA fiduciaries may be entitled to greater confidentiality in obtaining legal advice regarding plan administration."
(McGuireWoods LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
Employee Benefit Plan Year-End Action Items
"[This] information contains important action items plan administrators may need to process prior to year-end. The items include amendments, notices and other compliance matters for tax-qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans, nonqualified deferred compensation and welfare plans."
(O'Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins LLP)
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Press Releases
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