BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter for July 25, 2012

HIPAA Privacy and Security Audits Underway
"Group health plans and their business associates will want to use the audit protocol to conduct a self-audit to determine whether their HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification documentation and procedures are in compliance with applicable requirements. Because of health care reform compliance, employers may have been less focused on HIPAA Privacy, Security and HITECH compliance. The audit protocol is a reminder that there are many complex and ongoing privacy and security compliance obligations for group health plans." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)

Health Care Reform Virtual Conference - August 16, 2012 [Advert.]

The Supreme Court’s ruling has a major impact on health plans. This virtual conference will dive deep into portions of the law. Hear expert analysis and gain access to valuable resources to help you understand your responsibilities. Register Now!

Text of CBO Letter to the Honorable John Boehner Providing a Cost Estimate for H.R. 6079, the Repeal of Obamacare Act
"Assuming that H.R. 6079 is enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2013, CBO and JCT estimate that, on balance, the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting that legislation would cause a net increase in federal budget deficits of $109 bil.lion over the 2013-2022 period. Specifically, we estimate that H.R. 6079 would reduce direct spending by $890 bil.lion and reduce revenues by $1 tril.lion between 2013 and 2022, thus adding $109 bil.lion to federal budget deficits over that period." (Congressional Budget Office)

CBO Estimates for the Insur.ance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act Updated for the Recent Supreme Court Decision
"CBO and JCT now estimate that the insur.ance coverage provisions of the ACA will have a net cost of $1,168 bil.lion over the 2012-2022 period—compared with $1,252 bil.lion projected in March 2012 for that 11-year period—for a net reduction of $84 bil.lion. (Those figures do not include the budgetary impact of other provisions of the ACA, which in the aggregate reduce budget deficits.) The projected net savings to the federal government resulting from the Supreme Court's decision arise because the reductions in spending from lower Medicaid enrollment are expected to more than offset the increase in costs from greater participation in the newly established exchanges." (Congressional Budget Office)

Summary of CBO and JCT Estimates on the Budgetary Effects of the Health Insur.ance Coverage Provisions of the ACA
"Overall, CBO and JCT predicted that the effect of the Court's decision would result in a net increase of 3 mil.lion uninsured people by calendar year 2022 and a net reduction in the cost of the ACA insur.ance coverage provision of $84 bil.lion over the 2012–2022 period. CBO and JCT now estimate that fewer people will be covered by the Medicaid program, more people will obtain health insur.ance through the newly established exchanges, and more people will be uninsured. CBO and JCT did not update their estimate of the overall budgetary impact of the ACA. They did, however, update their estimate of the budgetary impact of repealing the ACA. CBO and JCT now estimate that repealing the ACA would increase federal budget deficits by $109 bil.lion over the 2013-2022 period." (HighRoads)

The Rising Cost of Commuting: Developing a Transportation Benefits Plan [Advert.]

Learn how to help your employees pay for their rising commuting expenses, with tax-free dollars. Join us to discuss solutions to the rising costs of commuting. Discounted pricing for BenefitsLink readers.

Majority Of Business Owners See Health Insur.ance Premiums Rising Over The Next Year
[Results of a recent Small Business Authority] poll of over 1,500 respondents ... 49% of business owners see their health insur.ance premiums rising within the next 12 months. Of the remaining respondents, 13% see their premiums decreasing, while 38% believe their premiums will remain the same. Additionally, 69% of business owners surveyed do not plan on re-bidding their health insur.ance out. Only 16% of respondents plan on re-bidding their health insur.ance, and 15% are still undecided." (MarketWatch.com)

GAO Report Says Proposed IRS Rule May Leave Some Children Ineligible For Subsidies
"While most uninsured children will qualify for coverage under the federal health law, a small percentage—6.6 percent of the total, or at least 460,000—may be shut out because of how the government proposes to define 'affordable' coverage, says a report from the [GAO]. The proposed Treasury Department rule says workers and their families are ineligible for federal subsidies for coverage if an employer offers them affordable coverage at work. An employer's offer is considered affordable if the worker's share is less than 9.5 percent of household income. But the rule bases affordability on what a worker would have to pay to cover himself or herself, not on the cost of covering the entire family, which is generally higher." (Kaiser Health News)

Health Care Costs Remain a Concern of Most Individuals
"The promise of coming guaran.teed access to health benefits seems of little comfort to the majority of Californians who, in a new study, reported trouble affording health care and anxiety over potential financial hardship due to the steep cost of care. A new Field Poll of 997 registered California voters showed 53 percent had difficulty paying their health care bills. Almost half, 46 percent, said they've simply delayed seeking treatment in the past year due to the cost." (Sacramento Bee)

Social Gaming Promoting Good Health 'Sticks' with Consumers
"Payers have been putting social gaming strategies to work, enticing patients to become more involved in their own health and well-being. Blue Shield of California has been using social gaming to motivate its employees since 2008 when it launched Wellvolution, a program that uses incentives, games and social media to promote good health." (FierceHealthPayer)

Medicare Works, Continues to Outperform Private Insur.ance
"The Medicare program continues to do better than private coverage for working-age adults when it comes to fulfilling the main purposes of health insur.ance—providing access to care and adequate financial protection from burdensome medical bills, according to Commonwealth Fund research published July 18 in the health policy journal Health Affairs. The study also found that elderly beneficiaries who opted for private Medicare Advantage coverage over traditional Medicare plans were significantly more likely to experience problems accessing care and to give their plan a fair or poor rating." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Supreme Court Ruling Leaves Open Questions on Restructuring Health Plans and Workforces
"Employers will have difficult decisions to make following the Supreme Court's June 28 ruling to uphold most of the 2010 federal health care system overhaul, especially about whether employers can avoid costly pay-or-play penalties under regulations still being drafted, employee benefit attorneys told BNA. The lack of final regulations on major provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including ones implementing employer penalties under tax code Section 4980H, means that many employers do not yet see clearly how they might restructure their employee benefits or, in some industries, restructure their workforces in response to the new regulations." (Bloomberg BNA)

Third Quarter Trends: Noteworthy Developments of Interest to Sponsors of Multiemployer Health Plans
TRENDS is a periodic snapshot of noteworthy developments of interest to sponsors of multiemployer health plans. This issue includes: Trend and CPI; The ACA and Compliance News; What Multiemployer Health Funds are Doing to Manage Costs: Selected Strategies; and The Vendor Marketplace. (The Segal Group, Inc.)

Does Your Employee Wellness Program Comply with HIPAA?
"Wellness programs are divided into two categories for purposes of determining compliance with the HIPAA nondiscrimination requirements: Programs that do not require an individual to meet a standard related to a health factor in order to obtain a reward are not considered discriminatory under HIPAA.... Programs that require individuals to satisfy a standard related to a health factor in order to obtain a reward must meet five additional requirements to comply with HIPAA. An example of this type of program is one that requires an individual to obtain or maintain a certain health outcome in order to obtain a reward (such as being a non-smoker or exercising a certain amount)." (hr360)

[Opinion]

Results of Obamacare's Coverage Requirements: No Free Lunches
"The president loves to cite the fact that college students are now able to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.... But ... the cost of continuing coverage from 18 to 26 could run as high as $3,400 per child per year. Much of that additional cost is passed back to companies that provide insur.ance coverage to dependents of their employees. The predictable result: Companies are dropping dependent coverage altogether.... [and] new rules and regulations ... are forcing many colleges to discontinue their coverage or to dramatically raise premiums.... [A] ban on insurers? discriminating against preexisting conditions for children [means] parents with healthy children were less likely to get coverage, especially since the inflow of sick children drove up premiums..... [I]nsurers in 20 states have responded by discontinuing 'child only' insur.ance coverage ... Politicians often act as though government programs are cost free.... But there are always costs and unexpected consequences. " (Cato Institute)

[Opinion]

Would Abolishing ObamaCare Increase the Deficit?
"[T]he Congressional Budget Office estimates that abolishing the Affordable Care Act would increase the deficit by $109 bil.lion over the next ten years.... The CBO is required to assume the ACA is implemented the way the law is written. But the law requires $523 bil.lion in cuts to Medicare.... This outcome is so unbelievable that the CBO has published an 'alternative report' showing much higher Medicare spending and the Medicare Actuaries Office not only publishes an 'alternative report,' they are now including the alternative report in the official report official report." (John Goodman's Health Policy Blog)

[Opinion]

Department of Justice Asserts in Litigation That Family Can't Run Their Business as Catholics
"In response to the Newlands' complaint that ordering them to violate the teachings of the Catholic Church in the way they run their business [by complying with a regulation that requires virtually all health care plans to cover—without cost-sharing—sterilizations, artificial contraception and abortifacients] is a violation of their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion, the Obama administration told the federal court that a private business has no protection under the First Amendment's free exercise clause -- especially if the business is incorporated." (The Patriot Post)

[Opinion]

Worry No More: Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Are Protected by the Health Care Law
"To determine just how many people across the country will be helped by this part of the landmark decision, Families USA commissioned The Lewin Group to quantify the number of Americans who have been diagnosed with pre-existing conditions. Looking at only those serious conditions that are commonly linked to coverage denials, we found that more than 64.8 mil.lion non-elderly Americans have been diagnosed with pre-existing conditions that could lead to denials of coverage, absent health reform. This means that one in every four non-elderly Americans (24.9 percent) would be at risk of being denied coverage today without health reform." (Families USA)

[Opinion]

How Much Is The Obamacare Mandate Going To Cost You?
"So just how much is that new ObamaCare tax going to cost you? For some people, a lot more than you have been hearing. The individual mandate section of the health overhaul law outlines the structure of the 'taxes' that must be paid by those who don't buy government-approved health insur.ance -- starting at $95 a year the first year for individuals. Many people are thinking it will be much cheaper to simply pay the tax than to buy policies that will cost thousands of dollars more." (Galen Institute)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Compensation Committees Must Stay Vigilant Even When Say-on-Pay Vote Is Favorable
"With this year's proxy season all but wrapped up, Compensation Committees have received their 'grade' on how well they set CEO pay this past year. For most companies, the grade is quite favorable. Over 74% received more than 90% shareholder support for their Say on Pay vote, and another 10% received over 80% support. But as a number of companies can attest, support can change dramatically from one year to the next, even when no changes are made to compensation programs. Therefore, Compensation Committees need to stay vigilant and keep focused on executive pay and shareholder returns throughout the year." (BoardMember.com)

Ownership Guidelines For Stock Compensation: Getting Stricter?
"More than 85% of publicly traded companies require executives to hold a certain amount of company stock, thereby encouraging an alignment of their interests with those of the company's shareholders.... [A recent] survey on ownership guidelines for company stock at 440 publicly traded corporations in the United States. Some interesting trends emerged, some showing shifts away from past approaches to stock ownership. 'In particular,' note the authors of the survey report, 'we have seen a marked increase in the number of companies adding retention requirements to their basic ownership guidelines.'" (myStockOptions.com)

Legislators Vow to Challenge N.J. Supreme Court Ruling on Judicial Pensions, Benefits
"[New Jersey legislators] are seeking a measure that would give them the authority to amend judicial salaries for taking contributions from justices' and certain judges' salaries for employee benefits. The Constitution, written in 1947, prohibits the salaries of Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices from being 'diminished' while they are on the bench." (The Star-Ledger)

Though Less Than 10 Years from Retirement, Transition Boomers Still Have Significant Gaps in Planning
"Transition Boomers also significantly underestimate the impact inflation and taxes will have in retirement. While healthcare costs ranked as the biggest retirement concern at 32%, only 10% picked keeping up with inflation and only 6% identified taxes in retirement as a top concern. In terms of inflation, respondents were asked to predict the cost of a loaf of bread in 2022 (based on today's average price of $2.50). While 75% predicted the cost would double to $5.00 in 10 years, a full 25% showed unfamiliarity with inflation and the effect it can have on purchasing power in retirement." (Allianz Life)

Press Releases

Soccer, Golf, Bowling and Financial Literacy?
(International Foundation (of Employee Benefit Plans, or IFEBP))

Mercer Provides Plan Sponsors with Open Enrollment Checklist
(Mercer)

Capital Retirement Plan Services, Inc. Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
(Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX))

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