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May 16, 2014          Get Retirement News  |  Advertise
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Employee Benefits Jobs

Intermediate Project Manager
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in MA

Benefits Plan Manager / Account Executive
BeneSys, Inc.
in OH

Part-time Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in WI

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in IL

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in CA

Retirement Services Specialist
First Financial Group of America
in TX

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Webcasts and Conferences

Health Plan Enrollment Provisions: Design and Administration Under Health Care Reform
May 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Fee
May 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

When Should I Take Social Security? -- Recorded
May 30, 2014 WEBCAST
(National Academy of Social Insurance)

2014 IRA Institute
October 6, 2014 in AZ
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences


  LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles,
official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
[Guidance Overview]

Whose Risk Is It Anyway? New Revenue Ruling Provides Guidance for Employee Benefits Captives
"[T]he IRS confirmed the continuing vitality of Rev. Rul. 92-93, in which it concluded that the parent corporation's employees should not be viewed as parties that are related to the captive and, correspondingly, that the risks of those employees should be treated as unrelated-party risks for purposes of the insurance analysis. Rev. Rul. 2014-15 does not speak to, and otherwise does not cover, the use of a captive to insure medical stop-loss coverage for its parent corporation's self-funded health benefits, although this topic clearly is ripe for guidance. Interest in the use of captives to insure employers' medical stop-loss coverage has surged following the advent of the [ACA] and its elimination of the lifetime and annual caps that employers historically were allowed to impose on self-funded health benefits." (Sutherland)  


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Health FSAs and HRAs After Health Care Reform

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[Guidance Overview]

FSA, HRA, HSA Comparison Chart: Eligibility, Funding and Taxation
"While the same out-of-pocket maximums applied for HDHPs linked to HSAs and to the [ACA] cost-sharing limit in 2014, those maximums will be different in 2015. The ACA out-of-pocket limits will be somewhat higher ($6,600 single and $13,200 family) than the HSA/HDHP out-of-pocket limits ($6,450 single and $12,900 family) in 2015; HDHPs that are connected to HSAs will need to meet the lower maximums." (Marsh Consulting Group)  

New York Federal District Court Rules That Welfare Benefit Plan Might Not Be Required to Cover Same-Sex Spouses
"The court took into account both the Supreme Court decision declaring DOMA unconstitutional and the recent IRS guidance relating to retirement plans and concluded that neither mandated same sex spousal coverage under welfare benefit plans. According to the court, the discrimination rules with respect to race, sex, gender, etc. are not inherent in ERISA, but instead are applied through the federal non-discrimination laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The employee had brought her claim only under ERISA; therefore her case was dismissed." [Jane Doe and Jane Roe v. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, No. 12-cv-04788 (S.D.N.Y. May 1, 2014)] (Stinson Leonard Street)  

Employer's Proposed Changes in Funding Retiree Health Care Benefits Was Not What Parties Bargained For, Sixth Circuit Says
"An employer's unilateral implementation of individual health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) in place of group health care plans breached the parties' collective bargaining agreements, not because they were 'unreasonable,' but because they were not what the parties bargained for ... [T]he Sixth Circuit found [the collective bargaining agreement] language unambiguous and that it created a vested lifetime right to health care benefits. Upon retirement, the retirees all had company-provided group health insurance coverage, with the employer paying the full premium for that insurance. The HRAs are not company-provided group insurance; they are health care vouchers. They also shifted significant risks from the company to the retirees." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

Cost-Control Plan for Health Care Could Cost You
"The Obama administration has given the go-ahead for insurers and employers to use a new cost-control strategy that puts a hard dollar limit on what health plans pay for some expensive procedures, such as knee and hip replacements.... A recent administration policy ruling went to unusual lengths, acknowledging that the cost-control strategy 'may be a subterfuge' for 'otherwise prohibited limitations on coverage.' Nonetheless, the [DOL] and [HHS] said the practice -- known as reference pricing -- could continue. Plans must use a 'reasonable method' to ensure 'adequate access to quality providers.' Regulators asked for public comment, saying they may publish additional guidance in the future." (Associated Press)  


[Advert.]

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Employer Health Costs to Rise Nearly 9% This Year
"[C]osts for preferred-provider organization [PPO] plans are expected to rise 8.7% this year. That's down from 9% last year. HMO plans should increase 8.6%, down just slightly from the previous year ... For 2013, the average total cost for a family health plan rose 4% to $16,351 ... The typical employee's share of that premium was $4,565, up about 6% from 2012. But the employer's share of the premium increased just 3%, a further sign that employers continue to shift more medical costs onto their workers." (Los Angeles Times)  

What to Expect for 2015 ACA Premiums: An Actuary Opens the Black Box (PDF)
"The outlook for 2015 premiums is still very cloudy at this point. In all markets, important factors such as trend, lower transitional reinsurance payments and industry fees point to higher premiums. Conversely, the single risk pool and the expected influx of brand-new consumers with fewer immediate health needs should help to mitigate premium increases. For many other factors, considerable uncertainty remains about how things will play out. Importantly, there will be significant variation across states based on the degree to which they allowed insurers to extend non-ACA compliant policies beyond 2013." (National Institute for Health Care Management)  

The Minnesota Women's Economic Security Act: What Employers Need to Know
"Effective July 1, 2014, the WESA ... [provides] up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for [1] a biological or adoptive parent in conjunction with the birth or adoption of a child or [2] a female employee for prenatal care or incapacity due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related health conditions. Previously, the law provided for six weeks of leave for the birth or adoption of a child.... [An] employee need only have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months at some point in time to be eligible for this leave. As a result of this change, employers may need to provide leave to a rehired employee before the one-year anniversary date of her rehire." (Ogletree Deakins)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Guidance Overview]

Health Insurance Premium Payments by Qualified Retirement Plans are Taxable
"[T]he final regulations include an important exception to the general rule. The payments a qualified plan makes to an insurance company for disability insurance premiums are not treated as taxable distributions under Code Section 402(a), and instead constitute incidental accident or health insurance, but only if [two] conditions are satisfied ... If these conditions are not met, the premium payments made to provide disability benefits to the employee would be treated as taxable distributions to the employee under Code Section 402(a) and benefits paid to the plan would constitute contributions." (Ice Miller LLP)  

Restrictive Covenants in Stock Award Agreements: Important Lessons for Employees Who Receive Stock Awards
"The consideration of a stock award is not diminished or made illusory by the company's right to terminate the employee at any time for any reason after making the award, which would cause the employee to forfeit the award.... Just because one award agreement does not impose restrictive covenants does not mean that the next one will not ... [N]o matter how solid the former employee's promises not to disclose confidential information and how pure his/her intentions not to disclose confidential information, the former employee's knowledge of the former employer is so extensive that such disclosure would be inevitable." [Newell Rubbermaid Inc. v. Storm, No. 9398-VCN (Del. Ch. Mar. 27, 2014)] (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

IRS Begins Targeted Examinations of Large Employers for Section 409A Compliance
"Prior IRS audit activity has focused on key section 409A problem areas, such as: [1] Impermissible payment triggers (e.g., signing of a release of claims); [2] Six-month delay and identifying 'specified employees'; [3] Faulty reliance on short-term deferral exception; [4] Bad 'good reason' definition; [5] Lack of 409A 'savings clause'; [6] Accelerated vesting of equity and cash awards on 'retirement'; and [7] Application of the 409A 'substitution rule' (particularly in severance situations)." (Kilpatrick Townsend)  

Press Releases

CalPERS Names Matthew G. Jacobs as New General Counsel
CalPERS [California Public Employees' Retirement System]

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