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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter
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[Guidance Overview]
Creditable Drug Coverage Disclosure Due to CMS Tomorrow (Feb. 29) for Calendar Year Health Plans, but CMS Web Site Problems Might Hamper Filing
"By Feb. 29, employers with calendar-year plans providing prescription drug benefits to Medicare-covered people must disclose whether their plans' coverage is 'creditable' to [CMS]. Plan sponsors must make this disclosure even if a plan covers only active employees or is fully insured. Sponsors must use CMS' web-based disclosure form and provide information about themselves and the coverage options they offer. Because the CMS website is frequently unavailable, sponsors may submit their information later; no penalties apply for late filing."
(Mercer)
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[Guidance Overview]
DOL's Proposed New FMLA Regulations for Military Families and Airline Crew Members (PDF)
"Most NDAA provisions took effect on October 28, 2009 when the NDAA was signed into law, but the extension of caregiver leave to veterans' family members is not effective until the DOL issues final regulations that define 'serious injury or illness.' Until then, an eligible employee can still take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave under existing regulations if the veteran with a serious health condition is a spouse, parent, or child (under 18 or disabled)."
(Buck Consultants)
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[Guidance Overview]
All Early Retiree Reinsurance Funds Paid Out or Pending, but Two Key Program Dates Still Ahead
"By March 30, participating plan sponsors must have an updated early retiree list, a detailed medical claim list and a payment request approved by the automated ERRP system. Otherwise, payments made based on summary data or manually reviewed claim lists are subject to recovery. The ERRP also can recover any funds that sponsors fail to use for program purposes by Dec. 31, 2014."
(Mercer)
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HSA Plan Valuation Approach Proposed by Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight
"The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has issued a bulletin that could affect the ability of personal health account programs to continue to operate after Jan. 1, 2014. Officials at CCIIO ... plan to include employer health savings account (HSA) annual contributions and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) contributions in actuarial value calculations, if the accounts are linked to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) ... [but is considering] leaving an individual's contributions to an HDHP-linked HSA out of the actuarial value calculations for that plan."
(LifeHealthPro)
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What Will Happen to Limited Medical Plans in 2014?
"If nothing changes, the 'grandfathered' plans and those which received annual limits waivers will be taken off the market. Unless the Supreme Court overturns the entire Act, the options for hourly and part-time workers will look much different in the very near future."
(BenefitsPro)
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Health Law Implementation: Actuarial Value, Health Disparities Draw Attention
"The Department of Health and Human Services offered a bulletin last week to provide guidance on how insurers should calculate actuarial value. Also, some health policy experts are beginning to question whether the health law's quality provisions might exacerbate the nation's health disparities."
(Kaiser Health News)
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Republicans Attack ACA's Contraceptive Coverage in Court
"[Nebraska] Attorney General Jon Bruning and 6 other state attorneys general, from Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, have filed suit in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, requesting a permanent injunction of the regulations."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)
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[Opinion]
American Benefits Council Urges Delay in Final Regs on Summary of Benefits and Coverage (PDF)
"[T]he final rule fails to provide sufficient time for implementation and also fails to recognize that many employers are still in the early stages of making decisions for the benefits they will provide for 2013.... The implementation period for these requirements is unnecessarily abrupt, disruptive and burdensome and should either be delayed by twelve months to minimize these adverse consequences or provide a simple transition rule ... [that would allow employers] to continue to communicate with their employees about the health plan options they will make available for plan year 2013 through the unique materials and communications tools that they have long used for this purpose."
(American Benefits Council)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Press Releases
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