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

Senior Pension Sales Consultant
Lafayette Life Insurance Company; subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group
in OH

Retirement Service Specialist
Insperity
in TX

Actuarial Assistant
Austin Capital Retirement Plan Services
in TX

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2015 Benefit Design: What Changes Are Health Plans and Large Employers Likely to Make?
March 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

CMS’s ‘45-Day Notice’ and 2015 Call Letter: Implications and Strategies for MA and Part D Plans
March 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

Labor and Employment and ERISA Class Actions After Wal-Mart and Comcast – Part III
April 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Bloomberg BNA)

HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
April 30, 2014 in NY
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
April 30, 2014 in NY
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Employer Pay-or-Play Penalties in 2015
"Normally, an employee makes his or her contribution for health coverage by payroll deduction. However, there are situations where pay is not sufficient to withhold the employee's contribution for health coverage (e.g., tipped employees, reduced work schedules and leaves of absence). The final regulations retain the grace period requirement in the proposed regulations: An employer may bill the employee for missed contributions and will not be treated as failing to offer health coverage if the employer ends health coverage because the employee fails to pay the required contribution -- but only if the employer allows a 30-day grace period consistent with the grace period for COBRA premiums." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)  

[Advert.]

6th Annual Leadership Summit on Consumerism Through Health Plan Innovation

Insights and experiences from leaders at Medicare Advantage plans, commercial under-65 plans, providers of voluntary and specialty benefits, and plan sponsors/employers. Practical solutions, actionable tools. March 11-12, Orlando. BLINK3 for discount.

[Guidance Overview]

Relief, Confusion for Section 4980H(a) 'Pay-or-Play' Transition Relief
"The unanswered question is whether an employer who fails the second and/or third condition of the 'Fewer than 100 Full-Time Employees' transition relief rule is subject to the original 4980H(a) penalty which only allows an employer to reduce its full-time employee amount by 30 not 80. This would be an extremely harsh rule as it would increase an employer's 4980H(a) penalty by $100,000. Maybe the government wanted to create this harsh penalty to prevent manipulation, but it is odd a similar penalty would not be enforced against an employer who still has 100 full-time employees (including FTEs)." (Moulder Law)  

[Guidance Overview]

What Does the ACA Shared Responsibility Final Rule Mean to Large Employers?
"[T]he final rule clarifies that for purposes of determining whether an employee is a variable hour employee, the employer may not take into account the likelihood that the employee may terminate employment with the employer (or a related employer) before the end of the initial measurement period.... [An] employer would not be safe in simply treating employees hired to work full-time for projects of, for example, six or eight months as 'variable hour' and not worrying about offering coverage or paying penalties.... [The] final rule in some places seems to offer incentives (reduced penalty risk) to employers to over classify employees as full-time and offer them coverage." (Ogletree Deakins)  

[Guidance Overview]

Final 'Play-or-Pay' Rules Under Healthcare Reform Announced
"Each member [of a controlled group] is liable for its penalty assessment only (regardless of whether another member in its controlled group is also assessed a penalty). Moreover, out of concerns for increased administrative complexity and potential for abuse, the Final Regulations do not adopt the request of some commenters ... that employers be permitted to aggregate members within an applicable large employer for purposes of determining Section 4980H liability. This is a departure from the normal modus operandi for testing employee benefit plans under the Code." (McGuire Woods LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

'Controlling Health Plans' and Standard Transaction Certification (PDF)
13 presentation slides. Topics include: New ACA Provisions; HIPAA Transaction Rules; Representative Transactions; Proposed Certification Rules; Controlling Health Plan Defined; Health Plan Identifier (HPID) Final Rule; and HPID Deadlines. (Crowell & Moring, via American Benefits Council)  

[Advert.]

11th Annual Employer Summit on Cracking Health Care Costs - April 7-9 - National Harbor, MD

Top thought leaders and forward-thinking employers discuss how to integrate current work in the employee wellness space with new initiatives, like narrow networks and direct contracting, to produce a true and measurable decrease in health costs. BLINK3 for discount.

[Guidance Overview]

New ACA Mandate: HIPAA Health Plan Certification Proposed Rules (PDF)
17 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] HIPAA Transactions: What Are They? Practical Issues, and New ACA Mandates; and [2] First Certification: Proposed Rules; Due Date; Who Files? How to Obtain; Types of Certifications; Attestation; How to Measure Covered Lives; Penalties; and To Do Items. (Groom Law Group, via American Benefits Council)  

[Guidance Overview]

Deadline for Use of ERRP Funds Approaches (PDF)
"In light of the December 31, 2014 deadline, it's important that plan sponsors finalize and document their use of [Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP)] funds if they have not done so already .... Plan sponsors that used a data aggregator, insurer, or other third-party administrator to collect or maintain data should ensure that they properly maintained those records and are in compliance with the HIPAA privacy provisions, including proper disposal when the records are no longer needed." (Buck Consultants)  

[Guidance Overview]

Recent IRS Developments Affecting VEBAs and Group Term Life Insurance Plans (PDF)
"The proposed rules clarify a few positions that one could glean from the statute, but which the prior temporary/proposed rules did not expressly address. They are ... [1] Regular UBTI applies to VEBAs, too ... [2] No UBTI for tax-exempt employer ... [3] UBTI applies to 10-or-more employer plans." (Groom Law Group)  

Medicare Reimbursement Cuts Kill
"Under the Balanced Budget Amendment of 1997, different classes of hospitals received different cuts in Medicare reimbursement. The cuts reduced Medicare inpatient payment by an estimated 5 percent between 1998 and 2000. By contrast, the [ACA] will reduce DRG payments by 1.1 percent per year indefinitely. A 2013 article ... examines the effect of the BBA reimbursement rate cuts on risk-adjusted mortality rates 7, 30, 90, and 365 days after hospital admission. [The authors] find that the risk of dying increases with the size of Medicare reimbursement cuts." (John Goodman's Health Policy Blog)  

Public Sector Cuts Part-Time Shifts to Bypass Insurance Law
"In Connecticut, as in many states, significant numbers of part-time school employees work more than 30 hours a week and do not receive health benefits. 'Are we supposed to lay off full-time teachers so that we can provide insurance coverage to part-time employees?' [one school superintendent] asked. 'If I had to cut five reading teachers to pay for benefits for substitute teachers, I'm not sure that would be best for our students.'" (Robert Pear in The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Virginia District Court Upholds Federal Exchange Premium Tax Credits
"Judge Spencer, like Judge Friedman, concludes that the ACA unambiguously supports the IRS rule. He goes further, however, by also concluding that even if the statute were ambiguous, the court should defer to the interpretation of the ACA by HHS and the IRS, as those interpretations are not unreasonable and Congress has given the agencies authority to interpret the law.... The plaintiffs have already appealed Judge Spencer's decision to the Fourth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. A similar appeal is already pending before the District of Columbia Circuit." [King v. Sebelius, No. 3:i3-CV-630 (E.D. Va. Feb. 18, 2014)] (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs Blog)  

Federal Judge in Virginia Delivers Setback for Legal Theory About Obamacare Subsidies
"'While on the surface, Plaintiffs' plain meaning interpretation of [that section of the law] has a certain common sense appeal, the lack of any support in the legislative history of the ACA indicates that it is not a viable theory,' U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer wrote ... 'However, when statutory context is taken into account, Plaintiffs' position is revealed as implausible,' he added. " [King v. Sebelius, No. 3:i3-CV-630 (E.D. Va. Feb. 18, 2014)] (The Hill)  

[Opinion]

In Defense of Corporate Wellness Programs
"It's not clear whether [Al Lewis and Vik Khanna] are intentionally dismissing or simply misunderstanding the wealth of data that shows how wellness programs benefit participating employees. The RAND study summarizes it this way: 'Consistent with prior research, we find that lifestyle management interventions as part of workplace wellness programs can reduce risk factors, such as smoking, and increase healthy behaviors, such as exercise. We find that these effects are sustainable over time and clinically meaningful.' Lewis and Khanna, however, don't focus on such findings. Instead, they question the motives of a company for even offering a wellness program[.]" (Rajiv Kumar in Harvard Business Review Blog Network)  

[Opinion]

Health Spending on State and Local Government Workers Has Outpaced Medicaid Spending by Almost 20 Percent
"[R]esearchers conclude that state and local spending on government workers increased by 444 percent in real, inflation-adjusted terms from 1987 through 2012. Spending on Medicaid grew by 375 percent.... How do government workers get away with it? Because health benefits are a defined benefit, rather than a defined contribution, their future costs are not properly reflected in the current fiscal year's cashflow." (John Goodman's Health Policy Blog)  

Financial Planning Considerations for Same-Sex Couples After Windsor (PDF)
"As a result of the new ruling, employee benefits and financial planning strategies once available only to opposite-sex married couples may now be available to same-sex married couples. This paper highlights several of the changes that have taken place, and details how same-sex couples may wish to incorporate them into their financial planning." [Includes a checklist.] (Prudential Retirement)  

The Most Popular Employee Perks of 2014
"In addition to all of the traditional perks like 401K matching funds and free medical and dental benefits, employers are becoming more innovative -- and employees love it! ... [H]ere are some of the most interesting and popular perks in 2014. [1] Game Rooms... [2] Good Eats.... [3] Physical Health.... [4] Mental Health.... [5] Time Off.... [6] Company retreats.... [7] Freebies." (Forbes)  

SEC Tightens Screws on Pre-IPO Stock Awards
"[T]he SEC's Division of Corporation Finance updated Section 9520 ('Share-based Compensation in IPOs') of its Financial Reporting Manual ... These updated rules (set forth fully [in this article]) emphasize the valuation process and difference between the IPO price and the fair market value used for the last pre-IPO awards." (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

Fidelity Investments Names Charles Morrison President of Asset Management
Fidelity Investments

Canadian Institute of Actuaries and Society of Actuaries Partnering to Enhance Canadian Actuaries’ Ability to Inform the Public and to Influence Public Policy
Society of Actuaries

Alliance Benefit Group-Pentegra Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

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