Outside Sales Representative
Newkirk (A DST Company)
in NY

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

5-Minute Fiduciary: Winter Advisory - Expecting Drifting Mutual Funds
March 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(Conrad Siegel Actuaries)

401(k) Investment Lineup Summit - New York
April 10, 2014 in NY
(Pensions & Investments)

2014NAFE Virtual Conference
April 27, 2014 WEBCAST
(National Institute of Pension Administrators)

Cafeteria Plans
June 3, 2014 in OH
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
June 4, 2014 in OH
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Orientation Periods Permitted to Extend 90-day Waiting Period, but May Raise Other Issues
"This orientation period allowance relates to the 90-day waiting period limit under the ACA, and applicable penalties under ERISA. It is not clear how it interacts with the employer mandate and [Internal Revenue Code] Section 4980H penalties for employers who do not offer minimum value, affordable coverage within 90 days to eligible employees. There is a chance that for any period of time beyond 90 days that a full time employee is made to wait, an applicable large employer may still be subject to a shared responsibility payment despite this proposed rule allowing an orientation period." (Pilot Employee Benefits)  

[Advert.]

Seeking expertise in benefit administration trends and technologies - $50 for a 20 minute phone discussion

The Newton Strategy Group is engaging brokers/consultants serving benefits administration and HR managers involved in making selections around eligibility and/or enrollment vendors. Respondents familiar with third party SaaS software providers (e.g. Benefitfocus, bswift) are especially needed. Respondents who complete the study will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. Click here.

[Guidance Overview]

Administration Extends 'Keep Your Plan' Health Insurance Transition Policy for Two More Years
"[T]he transitional policy ... extends to employers with 51 to 100 full-time equivalent employees who are currently considered 'large' by PPACA's definition, but will be considered 'small' when the definition of small employer expands to include employers with 100 or fewer full-time equivalent employees in 2016. Employers in this size segment may renew their large group plan beginning on or before October 1, 2016 without being considered out of compliance with the PPACA requirements specific to plans sold in the small group market." (Hill, Chesson & Woody)  

[Guidance Overview]

Allowing Noncompliant Health Insurance Policies; Benefits and Payment Parameters Rule (Part 1)
"Extension of the transitional policy is likely to skim healthier enrollees out of the exchange market, but this is unlikely to have a major effect on premiums. Rand estimated that it would increase the cost of ACA compliant policies by about 1 percent. Some of the additional cost will also be borne by the federal government through changes in the risk corridor program[.]" (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs Blog)  

[Guidance Overview]

CMS Tries to Simplify ACA Health Plan Regs, Reporting Rules
"A new final rule will allow employers in states with federally-run exchanges to offer single stand-alone dental plans or a choice of dental plans at different benefit levels. After the 2015 plan year, employers will also be able to offer different amounts of premium contributions to full-time and part-time employees. Under the final rule, states HIX SHOPs will be able to start selling small group plans through web-based brokers like eHealth Insurance." (Healthcare Payer News)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Final Employer ACA Reporting Rules
"If an employer meets certain conditions, it may be able to complete a simpler, alternative form under the final rule governing [Section] 6056. To be eligible to use the alternative method, the [applicable large employer (ALE)] would need to certify that for all months during the year in which the employee was a full-time employee, the ALE member (1) offered minimum essential coverage providing minimum value at an employee cost for employee-only coverage not exceeding 9.5% of the federal poverty line to one or more of its full-time employees, and (2) offered minimum essential coverage to the employee's spouses and dependents." (Littler)  

[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]

IRS Issues Final ACA Reporting Regs (PDF)
"Although the use of a combined form may simplify the preparation and distribution of the form, employers will be required to report the same information as under the proposed regulations for separate forms. The exact level of detail required to be reported will not be known until the draft forms are released.... While most employers will not be able to use either of these safe harbors for all employees, they may be beneficial for some groups of employees. The employer will need to balance the advantages and disadvantages of using different reporting methods for different groups of employees." (Buck Consultants)  

[Guidance Overview]

Final Employer 'Pay or Play' Rules (PDF)
62 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] New IRS guidance and effective dates; [2] Determining large employer status; [3] Pay or Play penalties; [4] Measuring full-time employees; and [5] Special rules and transition relief. (Hanson Bridgett LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

More Multiemployer Plan Relief: Final Rule Exempts Self-Insured/Self-Administered Plans from Transitional Reinsurance Fee in 2015 and 2016
"This exemption could apply to any self-insured and self-administered plan, but it is generally perceived that larger multiemployer plans are most likely to satisfy these requirements. The Final Rule also helped answer the key question that was left open by the Proposed Rule -- When is a plan is considered self-administered?" (Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)  

[Guidance Overview]

Considerations for 2015 Health Insurance Rate Development, Filing and Review (PDF)
"The 2015 rate development and rate review process will be similar to that for 2014; however, there are important changes that issuers and regulators need to address. This paper summarizes updated guidance related to rate development, rate filings and rate review, from the following documents: [1] Draft 2015 Letter to Issuers; [2] Proposed 2015 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters; [3] Proposed 2015 Qualified Health Plan (QHP) templates; [4] Final revised Unified Rate Review Template (URRT), URRT instructions, and corresponding actuarial memoranda instructions; and [5] Proposed 2015 Actuarial Value Calculator workbook and description of changes." (Wakely Consulting Group)  

[Guidance Overview]

ACA Requires All Health Plans to Obtain Health Plan Identifier
"Regardless of who obtains the HPID, employers will also need to determine how many HPIDs it wants to obtain. For employers who have a 'wrap' welfare plan that includes more than one group health plan, the final regulations appear to allow the wrap plan (in its capacity as the 'Controlling Health Plan') to obtain just one HPID on behalf of all of the component group health plans (the 'Subhealth Plans') instead of requiring each of the component group health plans to obtain its own HPID. For administrative ease, we believe that many employers will choose to obtain just one HPID." (Faegre Baker Daniels)  

First Circuit: Accrual Begins with First Clear Underpayment in ERISA Claims
"[T]he US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected a plan participant's argument that payments under a long-term disability plan governed by [ERISA] are analogous to an installment payment plan for purposes of calculating the statute of limitations. Joining the Second, Third and Ninth Circuits, the court held that a cause of action for ERISA benefits accrues when an ERISA plan's repudiation of a claim is first made known to the beneficiary. Therefore, even if ERISA payments are made periodically over the course of time, the statute of limitations begins to run on the date the plaintiff received the first clearly insufficient payment[.]" [Riley v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. 13-2166 (1st Cir. Mar. 4, 2014)] (Practical Law Company)  

Employees Seek Cost Savings from Private Insurance Exchanges
"Exchange participants can either 'buy up' or 'buy down' compared with their previous coverage, but most do the latter rather than opt for better insurance.... [A]mong the first-year participants in Aon Hewitt's exchange -- a large majority of them being those low-paid Darden and Sears workers -- fewer actually opted for the silver and bronze tiers than did the employees in Aon's full customer base. And that tendency was more pronounced this year than last[.]" (CFO)  

Proposed Legislation Ties Individual Mandate to Doctor Fee Fix
"The House will vote next week on legislation to delay ObamaCare's individual mandate and prevent a cut in Medicare payments to doctors. Republicans are putting the two bills together so that revenue generated by delaying the individual mandate could be used to pay for preventing a cut in doctor payments.... While the individual mandate would bring in revenue in the form of fines from people who don't sign up for a health plan, past scores have said implementing the mandate actually costs $9 billion a year. A House GOP aide said the proposed language would be a delay of the individual mandate for several years, but probably less than 10." (The Hill)  

What Will Obamacare Really Cost? They Might Be First To Know
"Properly accounting for risk adjustment dollars could mean as much as 10 percentage points in costs or revenue for plans accustomed to making 3 percent profit ... But to know what they're getting, insurers need to know how their experience compares to that of their competitors in a given state and what the average risk is for the total market. That information won't come through normal regulatory channels for many months -- long after carriers have to set rates for 2015 ... Instead, and perhaps improbably, [Wakely Consulting Group] has persuaded insurers in more than 30 states to let it act as a clearinghouse, gathering detailed information from each company, figuring how it fits together and sharing only what's necessary." (Kaiser Health News)  

HHS Extends Comment Period on Proposed Health Plan Certification of Compliance Rule to April 3
"[M]any third party administrators, self-funded health plans, and group health plans that have not been impacted by previous HIPAA Administrative Simplification requirements will be affected by this rule, even if they do not directly conduct HIPAA covered transactions. As proposed, the proposed rule would require controlling health plans to submit documentation on or before December 31, 2015. It would also establish penalty fees for a controlling health plan that fails to comply with the Certification of Compliance requirements." (Solutions Law Press)  

The Launch of the ACA in Selected States: Insurer Participation, Competition, and Premiums
"There was considerable diversity in which insurers emerged as the most competitive across states. There is no indication that market competition is affected by whether the Marketplace is facilitated by state or federal government." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)  

Consumers and Insurers Differ on Importance of Health Plan Factors (PDF)
"Emerging state and private exchange markets place growing pressure on health insurers, who must now compete in a retail environment where price is king. Yet consumers value other elements of the experience suggesting insurers may need more nuanced customer strategies. Mobile health is a greater part of the customer experience, and increased use of health and wellness applications underscores the need for a targeted mobile strategy." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)  

[Opinion]

Progressive Deterioration Taking Place in Health Plans Offered by Major Employers
"In the last half century, the best coverage has been provided mostly through large employers ... These employers have been very concerned about rising health care costs, and now they know that they will have to live with our highly flawed version of comprehensive reform -- the [ACA]. They see very little in this Act that will provide them relief, so they are moving forward with their own measures." (Physicians for a National Health Program [PNHP])  

Tax Court May Not Agree with IRS' Final Regs on Section 83 and Definition of Substantial Risk of Forfeiture
"The Court looked beyond the wording of the regulations, at the history of section 1.83-3(c)(2), which in the Court's view 'strongly suggests that discharge "for cause," like discharge "for committing a crime," refers to a narrow and serious form of employee misconduct that is very unlikely to occur and is thus properly regarded as too remote -- as a matter of law -- to create a "substantial risk of forfeiture."' The IRS, in a post-hearing memorandum, had essentially agreed with this construction ... This decision suggests that the definition of 'substantial risk of forfeiture' may be broader than most of us had believed -- and broader than the recently published final regulations suggest." [Austin v. Comm'r, 141 T.C. No. 18 (Dec. 16, 2013)] (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

IRS Finalizes Regs Addressing 'Substantial Risk of Forfeiture' Under Section 83
"The regulations respond to the question of whether any other conditions imposed on the transfer of property would constitute a substantial risk of forfeiture by clarifying that a substantial risk of forfeiture arises only through a future service condition or a condition related to the purpose of the transfer.... [In] determining whether a substantial risk of forfeiture exists based on a condition related to the purpose of the transfer, both the likelihood that the forfeiture event will occur and the likelihood that the forfeiture will be enforced must be considered." (EisnerAmper)  

Equity Compensation Update for March 6, 2014
"The 2013 National Compensation Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 8% of private sector employees, or 9.2 million employees, are in what the BLS defines as 'stock option' plans. Unfortunately, the BLS definition simply defines these plans as 'plans [that] allow establishment employees the right to buy company stock at a fixed price by a fixed time.' ... More useful are the data the BLS compiles on the distributions of participation by sector and employee type. Not surprisingly, the plans are most common in the information industry, where 31% of employees participate, and least common in leisure, health care, and education (many businesses in these sectors are nonprofits)." (National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])  

ERISA Advisory Council to Meet on March 26
"The purpose of the open meeting, which will run from 1:30 p.m. to approximately 4:30 p. m. Eastern Standard Time, is to welcome the new members, introduce the Council Chair and Vice Chair, receive an update from the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, and determine the topics to be addressed by the Council in 2014. Organizations or members of the public wishing to submit a written statement may do so ... on or before March 18, 2014[.]" (Employee Benefits Security Administration)  

Holland & Hart Welcomes ERISA Attorney Bret Clark to its Boise Office
Holland & Hart LLP

View All Press Releases