|
Employee Benefits Jobs
|
|
Webcasts and Conferences
|
|
|
|
|
Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles,
official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
|
[Guidance Overview]
New Guidance on COBRA and ACA Marketplace Coverage: The Gap in Coverage is Not Quite Filled
"[I]ndividuals will be faced with a choice: [a] elect the more expensive COBRA coverage retroactively to make sure claims are paid but then be forced to continue that coverage until the next annual enrollment period (or a special enrollment period if earlier); or [b] take the cheaper Marketplace coverage but suffer the gap in coverage and be forced to pay for the claims incurred without coverage. That conundrum is not explained in the new model COBRA notices."
(Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)
|
[Guidance Overview]
Issuer Payment & 820 Overview for Plan Years beginning in 2015 (PDF)
25 webinar slides. Excerpt: "The FF-SHOP will be the enrollment and payment system of record for all 2015 FF-SHOP plan year enrollments. Employers will receive one bill and make one payment to the FF-SHOP on a monthly basis. Participating issuers should be ready to accept initial enrollment s and payments from the FF-SHOP as early as November 15, 2014, for groups enrolling in FF-SHOP coverage beginning January 1, 2015. Issuers will continue billing and receiving payments through the end of plan years that began in 2014."
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
|
[Guidance Overview]
Health FSA Carryovers and HSA Eligibility, and Correcting Improper Payments From Health FSAs
"Sponsors of both a health FSA and an HSA should consider whether to have an FSA carryover feature and, if so, the best way to coordinate the two accounts. For example, an employer could require any carryover from an FSA (up to $500) to be carried over to an HSA-compatible FSA, such as a limited purpose FSA or post-deductible FSA. Employers could also give FSA participants the option to decline or waive the carryover amount to preserve their eligibility to make HSA contributions."
(Towers Watson)
|
|
|
|
|
Why Shouldn't Smokers Pay More for Health Insurance?
"A study of 20,000 employees showed smokers had more hospital visits per 1,000 (124 vs. 76), had a longer average length of stay (6.5 vs. 5 days) and made six more visits to medical facilities per year than non-smokers.... [T]here are compelling reasons to implement a differential; but what should an employer do when acting on those reasons? First, check your state's laws. Second, if you have a union, a differential would probably be a mandatory subject of bargaining. Third, establish -- often through an insurer -- a compliant wellness program. Fourth, once implemented, check its impact upon employees in protected groups. Fifth, assess its impact on employee morale, productivity and workplace culture."
(Fisher & Phillips LLP)
|
Why Health Spending is NOT on a 10% Growth Path for 2014
"[T]he $50 billion increase in spending in Q1 is NOT a good indicator of growth during the remaining quarters, because it reflects a surge in the number of people with health insurance due to the [ACA] that will not be repeated in subsequent quarters....[M]ore than half of the $50 billion growth estimate is attributable to expanded coverage ... [T]he continuation of very low health care price inflation through March 2014 (about 1%) means that the acceleration in spending must be driven by utilization."
(Altarum Institute)
|
Hospitals' Purchase of Doctor Practices Leads to Higher Prices, Spending
"[A recent] analysis by Stanford University researchers found prices were most likely to increase when hospitals bought physician practices ... Hospitals have increasingly bought physician practices over the past decade, arguing it helps them coordinate care and control costs. But insurers and many economists say hospitals' main motivation is negotiating higher prices with insurers and building referrals to grow admissions.... [T]he Stanford study could give the FTC ammunition to more closely examine and potentially block future hospital purchases."
(Kaiser Health News)
|
HSA-Eligible High Deductible Health Plans: Updating the Definition of Prevention (PDF)
"This report addresses the strict definition of prevention that an HDHP must follow for it to include a pre-tax health savings account (HSA), and how this restriction limits the effectiveness of current plans. A potential solution -- allowing HSA-eligible HDHPs to provide first-dollar coverage for targeted, evidence-based, secondary preventive services that prevent chronic disease progression and related complications -- can improve patient-centered outcomes, add efficiency to medical spending, and enhance HDHP attractiveness."
(Center for Value-Based Insurance Design, University of Michigan)
|
Internet Exposure of Personal Health Information Results in $4.8 Million HIPAA Settlements
"The monetary payments of $4,800,000 include the largest HIPAA settlement to date.... The investigation revealed that the breach was caused when a physician employed by [Columbia University (CU)] who developed applications for both [New York and Presbyterian Hospital (NYP)] and CU attempted to deactivate a personally-owned computer server on the network containing NYP patient ePHI. Because of a lack of technical safeguards, deactivation of the server resulted in ePHI being accessible on internet search engines. The entities learned of the breach after receiving a complaint by an individual who found the ePHI of the individual's deceased partner, a former patient of NYP, on the internet."
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
|
Popularity of Onsite Health Clinics, Coaching Spreads
"[H]ealth clinics and coaches are becoming an increasingly common sight at employers of all kinds and sizes.... [H]ealth care costs are dropping and productivity is increasing at workplaces where these efforts are underway.... According to a 2013 survey ... 44 percent of large employers have onsite clinics, and 9 percent were thinking about adding them.... Estimates are that well over 30 percent of U.S. companies now offer a consumer-driven health plan that includes health coaching in some fashion."
(Treasury & Risk)
|
|
|
|
|
California's Small Business Health Insurance Exchange Off to Slow Start
"The program, designed to make insurance more affordable and easier to purchase for small businesses, has only attracted about 1,200 companies. There are roughly 700,000 small businesses in the state, and more than half could be eligible for tax credits under the health law ... There is currently no way to enroll online and applications take weeks or months to process, business groups said."
(Kaiser Health News)
|
New Push for State-Funded Health Care in New York
"The universal health insurance bill, also known as New York Health, would streamline coverage for New Yorkers by replacing existing private and state health care programs with one universal program paid for by the federal and state governments.... Similar measures have been introduced in 26 states, but only one -- Vermont -- has passed legislation instituting a single-payer program. Vermont is expected to launch the program in 2017 once it has received the proper federal waivers."
(The Legislative Gazette)
|
[Opinion]
Private Exchanges: A Breeding Ground for Transformational Innovation
"Fixed expenses, reduced administration and greater choice for employees and their families provide distinct advantages. Yet futurists envision innovation that not only matches individual needs and incentives with the best solution but also creates marketplace transformation that generates even greater consumer advantage. When educated health care consumers begin to force market changes and private exchanges expose costs and create more competition, health systems will be compelled to compete on price. The effect can finally begin to lower the nation's health care costs."
(The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism)
|
|
Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
|
[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Notice of Disaster Relief for Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds and Flooding in Florida
"Victims of the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding that took place beginning on April 28, 2014 in parts of Florida may qualify for tax relief from the [IRS].... The President has declared Escambia and Santa Rosa counties a federal disaster area. Individuals who reside or have a business in these counties may qualify for tax relief.... This relief also includes the filing of Form 5500 series returns, in the manner described in section 8 of Rev. Proc. 2007-56."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
|
The Sun Capital Case: New Liability Concern for Private Funds Extends Beyond Pension Liability
"[V]irtually every private fund and its portfolio companies will encounter one or more of the following compliance challenges if they are treated as a controlled group.... [1] Discrimination and eligibility testing for retirement and health plans and deferred compensation arrangements; [2] Determining whether the employer mandate under health care reform applies; [3] Calculating contribution limits; [4] Analyzing whether the employee has incurred a separation from service for purposes of vesting and receiving a distribution under qualified and non-qualified plans; [5] Applying the COBRA rules; [6] Testing cafeteria plans for discrimination; [7] Applying the HIPAA rules; [8] Applying the qualified retirement plan minimum participation rules; [9] Determining deadlines to remit 401(k) or non-qualified deferred compensation plan distributions; and
[10] Determining the ability to terminate a 401(k) or non-qualified deferred compensation plan."
(Husch Blackwell, via Lexology)
|
Have You Saved Enough?
"Health care costs are an increasingly large, and often unplanned, expense in retirement. Use the Health Care Costs Calculator to estimate your health care expenses in retirement and the costs associated with different health issues, and to explore how much you can save by improving your health."
(AARP and Optum)
|
|
|
|
Press Releases
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
Phone (407) 644-4146
Fax (407) 644-2151
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
Copyright © 2014
BenefitsLink.com, Inc. -- but feel free to forward this
newsletter without further permission from us, if you do not
modify the newsletter in any way (including this lower
portion).
All materials contained in this newsletter are
protected by United States copyright law and may not be
reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed,
published or broadcast without the prior written
permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of
third party materials, the owner of that content. You
may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or
other notice from copies of the content.
Links to Web sites other than those owned by
BenefitsLink.com, Inc. are offered as a service to
readers. The editorial staff of BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
was not involved in their production and is not
responsible for their content.
Useful links:
|
