Part Time On Call Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in AR, CA, HI, MO, NJ, NY, TN, UT

Client Manager, Retirement Affinity Program
RCM&D
in DC

Pension Consultant/Qualified Plan Administrator
A Pension Store, LLC
in GA

Pension Administrator/Consultant
Integrity Pension Services LLC
in NV

Sr. Benefits Strategy & Compliance Analyst
The Sun Products Corporation
in CT

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Real Big Deal About FATCA And Foreign Retirement Plans
February 18, 2014 in PA
(PEBA (Penjerdel Employee Benefits and Compensation Association))

Updates from DOL/EBSA on Administration Of Employee Benefit Plans
March 5, 2014 in PA
(PEBA (Penjerdel Employee Benefits and Compensation Association))

5th Annual IHC FORUM & Expo Conference
May 7, 2014 in GA
(Institute for HealthCare Consumerism)

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[Guidance Overview]

Agencies Propose Rules for Excepted Benefits (PDF)
"[T]he proposed regulations eliminate the requirement that a participant pay an additional premium for a limited-scope dental or vision plan that is not considered an integral part of the group health plan.... The wraparound coverage proposed in these rules is intended to allow a plan sponsor to offer a comparable level of benefits to both high-income and low-income workers.... The proposed regulations include four criteria that EAPs must meet in 2015 in order to be considered an excepted benefit ... Most employers' EAPs will easily meet these requirements." (McGraw Wentworth)  

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[Guidance Overview]

Dental and Vision Coverage as an Excepted Benefit
"[As] long as the employer gives employees the opportunity to waive or opt-out of dental or vision coverage, the dental or vision coverage will be an excepted benefit even if the waiver has no impact on employee contributions. And, as long as dental or vision coverage is classified as an excepted benefit, dollar limits on pediatric dental and vision care are permissible. Note that this opens the door to dental and vision health reimbursement arrangements." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

That's a Wrap! The ACA Creates a New Excepted Benefit
"The proposed regulations describing Limited Wraparound Coverage begin with the assumption that employer-sponsored major medical plans are better than any plan an individual can purchase through the Marketplace ... [and] then assume that some employees will not be able to afford the employer-sponsored plan, will waive the coverage and instead purchase coverage in the Marketplace that costs less. In such a case, the employer might then be inclined to offer 'wraparound coverage' ... [which,] together with the Marketplace coverage, would be comparable to the employer-sponsored plan. Making all of this possible is the proposed rule that the wraparound coverage, subject to certain requirements, would be considered an excepted benefit and not subject to the market reform requirements of the ACA." (Hill, Chesson & Woody)  

EAP Programs Escape the ACA Market Reforms, at Least for Now
"It appears that the Departments want to preserve an employee's eligibility for premium tax credits ... if an EAP is the only benefit offered to the employee by his or her employer (or the only affordable benefit).... If an employer offers nothing but an EAP and that EAP is not an excepted benefit, it could be considered [minimum essential coverage (MEC)]. On the flip side, it is unclear if an EAP could satisfy the minimum value requirement of the MEC offered by a large employer, under the Employer Mandate." (Hill, Chesson & Woody)  

ACA Non-Discrimination Rules Continue to Be Delayed
"One of the key questions facing the IRS is how to apply the non-discrimination rules if an employer offers the same coverage to all employees but large numbers of low-paid workers turn down the offer and instead obtain coverage from other sources, like a health insurance exchange. In other words, the employer does not intend to discriminate, but ends up with only a few highly compensated employees electing the plan." (Fox Rothschild LLP)  

IRS Says Failure to Promulgate Non-Discrimination Regs Is Not a New ACA 'Delay'
"'The IRS has not announced any new or additional information on this issue. The New York Times story refers to IRS Notice 2011-1, which was released to the press on December 22, 2010. That Notice stated that the sanctions under Public Health Service Act Section 2716 will not apply until after generally applicable guidance is issued, because the statute requires regulatory detail in order to operate properly. Work on that guidance continues, taking into consideration comments received from the public. Any suggestion that there is a new delay is misleading,' [said IRS spokesperson Michelle Eldridge]." (Fox Business)  

Must Disability Claim Administrators Now Obtain the SSDI File in the 11th Circuit?
"While it is not particularly novel to hold that an SSDI award must be considered -- most circuits require disability claim administrators to consider an SSDI award, or at least to explain why it is not relevant -- the Eleventh Circuit seems to have taken the requirement a step further, requiring the administrator to seek out the evidence the SSDI award was based on, and perhaps even delay an adverse decision until the SSDI process is completed." [Melech v. Life Insurance Co. of N. America, No. 12-14999 (11th Cir. Jan. 6, 2014)] (Begos Brown & Green LLP)  

Evaluating the 'Keep Your Health Plan Fix' -- Implications for the ACA Compared to Legislative Alternatives (PDF)
"Premium increases are small to moderate. ACA-compliant market enrollment declines are modest to substantial. The number of uninsured decreases. ACA-compliant market enrollees are older and less healthy, while non-ACA-compliant nongroup plans retain and/or attract young and healthy individuals. The net cost of the ACA's coverage provisions will increase, particularly under the optional extension plus buy-in proposal. None of the proposals will lead to a death spiral or the implosion of the ACA-compliant market." (RAND Corporation)  

Do Shifts in Health Accounts Portend Bigger Changes Ahead? (PDF)
"[H]ealth savings accounts (HSAs), which can be funded by employer and employee contributions, continue to expand, while employer-funded health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) declined in 2013 for the first time in a decade.... [In] 2013, there were 4.7 million HRA accounts, down from 5.1 million in 2012, while the number of individuals with HSAs increased from 6.6 million to 7.2 million between 2012 and 2013. Assets in HRAs fell slightly and were about $5.8 billion in 2013, while assets in HSAs increased from $11.3 billion to $16.6 billion between 2012 and 2013." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

UnitedHealth Ends 2013 on the Up, But Girds for Disruption
"The first insurer to post last year's financial results, UnitedHealth Group saw revenues grow 11 percent but margins slip -- a sign of industry pressures ramping up in the new era of health reform.... The company added another 4.5 million customers in 2013 -- about 170,000 of them in the fourth quarter -- across commercial, military, Medicare, Medicaid and international health plans, to total 45 million members." (Healthcare Payer News)  

The Times They Are a Changin' -- or Should We Say 'Churning?'
"This coming year will be the proving ground for this new definition of churning and its impact on low-income Americans as they try navigate a changing health care landscape. Those who fail to stay on top of their eligibility could fall into coverage gaps, run the risk of having to pay back the federal government for subsidies used when they were not eligible, or both." (ExtendHealth)  

Perceived Value of Employer-Provided Benefits Falls Amid High Out-of-Pocket Costs
"Benefits remain a critical element of the employee experience, and the vast majority of workers agree that benefits are just as important to them as their salaries. But according to [a survey] of 1,506 U.S. retirement plan participants who also receive health benefits, the perceived value of benefits is eroding among workers who complain about out-of-pocket health care expenses. The fall-off is most pronounced among workers under 50, 30% of whom say benefits are 'definitely worth it' -- down from 45% who said so in 2011." (Mercer)  

Davidson v. Henkel: A Painful Reminder of the Special Rules for FICA Taxation of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
"Most employers (or their payroll systems) properly calculate, withhold and pay the federal employment taxes that are due on the current compensation that they pay their employees each year. However, employers are often less familiar with the rules for calculating and paying FICA taxes on 'nonqualified' deferred compensation (i.e., amounts that an employee attains a legally binding right to in one year, but which are not payable to the employee until a future year)." [Davidson v. Henkel Corp. No. 12-cv-14103 (E.D. Mich. July 24, 2013)] (Spencer Fane)  

Washington Examiner Issues Special Report on Health Care January 20
Washington Examiner

James E. Arnold & Associates, LPA Obtains Dismissal Of ERISA Class-Action Case Asserted Against Trustees Of Two Defined Benefit Plans
James E. Arnold & Associates, LPA

Securian Retirement Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

Transamerica Retirement Solutions Adds $3 Billion Retirement Plan
Transamerica Retirement Services

2014 is Segal's 75th Anniversary Year
The Segal Group

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