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February 9, 2012 Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Plan Compliance Specialist
for Lincoln Financial Group in IL, IN

ERISA Paralegal
for Providus in TX

Junior Plan Administrator
for DF Pensions, Inc. in FL

Account Manager
for Maniaci Insurance Services, Inc. in CA

Employee Benefits Consultant - Account Executive
for WestLake Financial Group, Inc. in IL

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Webcasts and Conferences

Watch Your COBRA Language! Finding and Fixing Mistakes in COBRA Notices
Nationwide on March 7, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA


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[Official Guidance]
Final IRS/EBSA/HHS Regs on Required Summary of Benefits and Uniform Glossary for Health Plan Participants (PDF)
"The requirements to provide an SBC, notice of modification, and uniform glossary . . . apply for disclosures to participants and beneficiaries who enroll or re-enroll in group health coverage through an open enrollment period (including re-enrollees and late enrollees) beginning on the first day of the first open enrollment period that begins on or after September 23, 2012. For disclosures to participants and beneficiaries who enroll in group health plan coverage other than through an open enrollment period (including individuals who are newly eligible for coverage and special enrollees), the requirements . . . apply beginning on the first day of the first plan year that begins on or after September 23, 2012. For disclosures to plans, and to individuals and dependents in the individual market, these requirements are applicable to health insurance issuers beginning on September 23, 2012." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)


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[Official Guidance]
Templates, Instructions and Related Guidance Regarding Final IRS/EBSA/HHS Regs on Required Summary of Benefits and Uniform Glossary for Health Plan Participants (PDF)
"This guidance document authorizes [a Summary of Benefits and Coverage] template (with instructions, samples, and a guide for coverage example calculations to be used in completing the SBC template), and the uniform glossary . . ." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)

[Official Guidance]
'Fact Sheet' from HHS on Final Regs on Summary of Benefits and Coverage and Uniform Glossary for Health Plan Participants
"Recent studies, including one from Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, show that forms like the ones announced today help consumers better understand their insurance coverage and its value, making it easier to find the coverage that is best for them. Consumers in these studies took particular note of the coverage examples, a new plan comparison tool for health insurance consumers included in the SBC, which allowed them to compare how a health plan's coverage works for certain medical scenarios." (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

[Official Guidance]
Health Reform to Require Insurers to Use Plain Language in Describing Health Plan Benefits, Coverage
"People in the market for health insurance will soon have clear, understandable and straightforward information on what health plans will cover, what limitations or conditions will apply, and what they will pay for services thanks to the Affordable Care Act — the health reform law — according to final regulations published today. . . . The new explanations, which will be available beginning, or soon after, September 23, 2012 will be a critical resource for the roughly 150 mil.lion Americans with private health insurance today." (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

[Official Guidance]
IRS Notice 2012-17: Frequently-Asked-Questions From Employers Regarding Health Care Plan Automatic Enrollment, Employer Shared Responsibility, and Waiting Periods (PDF)
"The following questions and answers respond to inquiries the Departments are receiving regarding automatic enrollment, employer shared responsibility, and the 90-day limitation on waiting periods. As discussed above, the questions and answers below provide information and identify various approaches that the Departments are considering proposing in future regulations or other guidance. Guidance that employers may rely upon with respect to the issues addressed below will be provided with sufficient lead time for employers to comply. Comments are requested on these approaches." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

[Guidance Overview]
Circuit Court Says Individuals Cannot Disclaim Entitlement to Medicare Part A
"To be sure, no one has to take the Medicare Part A benefits. But the benefits are available if you want them. There is no statutory avenue for those who are 65 or older and receiving Social Security benefits to disclaim their legal entitlement to Medicare Part A benefits." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

[Guidance Overview]
Health Care Compliance Form 8928 Excise Tax Self-Reporting Requirements
"Sections 4980B, 4980D, 4908E, and 4980G of the Internal Revenue Code impose excise taxes for various failures of health care coverage requirements. For example, Section 4980B excise taxes apply to COBRA failures, and Section 4980D excise taxes apply for failure to comply with Code Chapter 100, group health plan requirements. The list of 4980D triggers has grown substantially since enactment of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)." (Employee Benefits Law Report)

[Guidance Overview]
IRS Updates Model HSA Trust and Custodial Account Forms
"These bare-bones model agreements serve as a good starting point for HSA trustees and custodians. Nonusers may also find them helpful to identify the minimum requirements for a qualifying HSA trust or custodial agreement." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

Small Firms' Actions in Two Areas, and Exchange Premium and Enrollment Impact
"We estimate that Affordable Care Act regulations restricting employers' ability to offer grandfathered plans will result in lower premiums on plans available through the exchanges and will have small negative effects on enrollment in the exchanges. Our results suggest that these regulations are essential to keeping premiums on the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) exchanges affordable. Our analysis also found that Affordable Care Act regulations limiting self-insurance will reduce enrollment in the exchanges somewhat, without substantially affecting exchange premiums." (Health Affairs)

Financial Burden from Prescription Drugs Has Declined Recently for the Nonelderly
"For example, one in four nonelderly people devote more than half of their total out-of-pocket health care spending to prescription drugs." (Health Affairs)

Senate Panel Approves Mass Transit Benefit Contribution Increase
"The tax-favored status of an employee benefit tapped by those who use mass transit to get to and from work would be boosted under a provision in highway funding legislation approved Tuesday by a Senate panel." (Business Insurance)

Implementing the PPACA: A 2012 State To-Do List for Exchanges, Private Coverage, and Medicaid (PDF)
"[This paper] recommends a series of tasks and issues to consider in 2012 in order to move forward with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the states. Specifically, it explores the following: Setting Up an Exchange; Getting People Enrolled Efficiently; Ensuring Coverage Is Affordable and Comprehensive; Monitoring Implementation of Reforms Effective Now; Educating Consumers on Their Current and Future Coverage Options and Rights." (Families USA)

Urban Institute's ACA Implementation Monitoring and Tracking Series
"The Urban Institute is undertaking a comprehensive monitoring and tracking project to examine the implementation process and effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 10 states. Designed to help states, researchers and policy-makers learn from the process as it unfolds, the Urban Institute is documenting changes to the implementation of national health reform in Alabama, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

Consumers Hit by Higher Out-of-Network Medical Costs
"Consumers have long complained about the cost of going outside their health plan's network, but [one consumer] encountered a new twist: a growing number of insurers have changed the way they calculate reimbursements to shift more of the expense to patients." (Kaiser Health News)

Large Employers See Scenarios Under Which They Could Move Workers and Retirees to Exchanges
"Starting in 2014, large employees will have opportunities to use the exchanges for some of their employees and retirees and, starting in 2017, states will be allowed to open the Small Business Health Options Programs, or SHOP exchanges, to all those working in firms with more than 100 employees." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Campaign to Regulate Health Insurance Premiums Launched in San Francisco
"The 800-word measure would require health insurance companies to publicly justify their rate increase requests, make the company CEOs affirm that financial data under penalty of perjury, and make the rate increases subject to approval by California's Insurance Commissioner." (San Francisco Bay Guardian Online)

Insurers Call for Essential Health Benefits to Be Affordable and Based on Evidence
"Ensuring that health plans are affordable should be the primary factor considered by the Department of Health and Human Services in specifying benefits that must be covered in 2014 by individual and small group plans, the two associations that represent health insurers said in comments filed Jan. 31." (Bloomberg BNA)

How Small Business Health Exchanges Can Offer Value to Their Future Customers and Why They Must
"SHOP exchanges can attract small employers by offering their employees choices among a differentiated set of health plans — including high-value, low-cost plans that may reduce overall expenditures." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Health Insurance Exchanges of Past and Present Offer Examples of Features that Could Attract Small-Business Customers
"Small-business owners will either take advantage of the SHOP exchanges or turn to the outside insurance market. It is critical for the exchanges to get the basics right at launch by offering a strong choice of plans, providing high-value services, and providing excellent customer service." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Regulating Stop-Loss Coverage May Be Needed to Deter Self-Insuring Small Employers from Undermining Market Reforms
"The states and federal government must develop a coordinated approach to dealing with stop-loss coverage regulation . . . . 'Doing so is essential for market reforms to succeed, and for insurers to compete based on providing the best value in coverage design and care management, rather than based on segmenting risks and exploiting regulatory loopholes.'" (The Commonwealth Fund)

Small Firms' Actions in Two Areas, and Exchange Premium and Enrollment Impact
"The authors conclude that federal regulators acted prudently by restricting employers' ability to offer grandfathered plans while maintaining their option to self-insure. The current policy 'strikes a good balance between mitigating adverse selection and achieving high insurance enrollment,' the authors conclude." (The Commonwealth Fund)

How Choices in Exchange Design for States Could Affect Insurance Premiums and Levels of Coverage
"With support from The Commonwealth Fund, researchers from the Urban Institute simulated the implications of various design choices, including whether to: merge the small-group and individual insurance markets or keep them separate; eliminate age rating; remove the small-employer tax credit; and define 'small group' as an employer with 100 or fewer workers or one with 50 or fewer workers." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Making the SHOP Exchanges Work
"The Affordable Care Act's Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) was designed to address this problem by creating state-based insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, for small employers. The SHOP exchanges, set to open in January 2014, will make it easier for small employers to offer an array of comprehensive, affordable plans to their workers." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Guidance Overview]
Court Rules Compensation for Loss of Pension is Taxable
"A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal has highlighted the importance of considering all the reasons for which a termination payment is made in deciding whether it is taxable." (SNR Denton)

[Guidance Overview]
2011 Decisions of Interest in ERISA Cases (PDF)
Pages 6-7 of 8 pages. Court Denies Plaintiffs' Attorneys' Claim for Fees in ERISA Action and Second Circuit Adopts Presumption of Prudence Standard in ERISA Stock Drop Litigation. (Schulte Roth & Zabel)

[Guidance Overview]
New York's Marriage Equality Act and its Effect on Welfare and Pension Benefits (PDF)
Page 5 of 8 pages. 'Almost without exception, the Act provides that same-s.ex couples must be able to marry in New York, that the marriages of same-s.ex and opposite-se.x couples must be treated equally in all respects under the law, and that marriages must be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or opposite se.x." (Schulte Roth & Zabel)

[Guidance Overview]
Top 10 ERISA Developments of 2011
"In sum, 2011 altered the legal landscape for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, third-party administrators, service providers, and plan participants. Although the precise consequences of the top ERISA developments of 2011 remain to be seen, they are certain to present new risks and challenges in 2012 and beyond." (Jenner & Block)

Key Developments in the World of Federal Employee Benefits
"Another week, another round of legislative proposals aimed at reducing federal compensation. Government workers no doubt are wishing for another sort right . . . about now." (Government Executive)

Chrysler's Hourly Employees to Get Bonuses Friday
"Chrysler reported its first net profit of $183 mil.lion — its first in 15 years — last week. For the first time since 2005, it also posted an operating profit of almost $2 bil.lion. The company's annual earnings were actually much higher, but Marchionne decided to pay back Chrysler's loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments early." (The Detroit News)

Present Law and Background Relating to the Interaction of Federal Income Tax Rules and Financial Accounting Rules
"The House Committee on Ways and Means [scheduled] a public hearing for February 8, 2012, on the interaction of tax and financial accounting on tax reform. This document, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides an overview of earnings per share computations and the financial accounting rules for deferred taxes and uncertain tax positions. The document also provides examples of financial accounting for income taxes." (The Joint Committee on Taxation)

Relocation Benefits Are on the Move
"New trends in relocation are growing out of economic necessity as companies find new ways to move their talent while protecting both the employee and the company from the volatility of the real estate market." (Workforce)

Press Releases



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