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The Principal Financial Group
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Dorsey & Whitney LLP
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Federally-facilitated Small Business Health Options Program (FF-SHOP) Series III - Update and Issuer Q&A
June 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))

Preparing for and Surviving a Plan Audit
June 24, 2014 WEBCAST
(Millennium Trust Company, LLC)

The What and When of the Affordable Care Act: Preparing for 2015
June 25, 2014 WEBCAST
(McGladrey LLP)

Disclosures Under the ACA
July 10, 2014 WEBCAST
(American Bar Association [ABA])

Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans 2014
July 16, 2014 in GA
(SunGard Relius)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of CMS Technical FAQ: COBRA Enrollments Through FF-SHOP
"The FF-SHOP will not support COBRA transactions as of November 15, 2014. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expects to support these transactions as part of a future release." [FAQ ID 1995, publication date May 31, 2014.] (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)  

[Advert.]

Form 5500 Reporting Update

June 25 -- This live webinar will help you understand when you need to file a Form 5500 and what you need to file, and will focus on some recent changes that may impact your filings. BenefitsLink discount.

[Guidance Overview]

The 95% Rule: Critical Details You Are Missing
"Despite the importance of the 95 percent rule, the final regulations only have two sentences explaining its intricacies. The first sentence discussing the 95 percent rule explains an employer will be treated as offering qualifying coverage to all of its full-time employees (and their dependents) for a calendar month, if the employer offers coverage to all but five percent (or, if greater, five full-time employees) of its full-time employees. The second sentence explains that employees in a limited non-assessment period are not included when calculating the 95 percent rule. The goal of this white paper is to explain what these two sentences mean and to discuss the cross-referenced sections quietly lurking within the rule." (Moulder Law)  

Plan Fees: Sixth Circuit Puts Welfare Plan Vendors on Notice
"The court's finding that the managed account funds were plan assets may not be adopted by other courts. Nonetheless, [this case] makes it clear to welfare plan vendors that they need to be transparent about their fee practices and provide adequate disclosure of the fees. Concurrently, plan sponsors and administrators have a separate duty to monitor the fees being charged to the plans for which both the sponsors and administrators have oversight responsibility. [The case] also makes it evident that while not subject to the same detailed regime that defined contribution plans are under, described in Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA, failure to properly disclose welfare plan fees can result in significant liabilities, particularly with large self-insured plans." [Hi-Lex Controls v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Nos. 13-1773/1859 (6th Cir. May 14, 2014)] (Holland & Knight)  

Wellness: The Next Frontier
"The first step in building a wellness program is determining what it is your employees and their dependents have been spending the plan's money on. Second, which of those items are preventable, or could be reduced or eliminated via a specific type of intervention? It is only then that you should begin to build your wellness program.... It's targeted to your own employee population and their dependents, and the type of plan expenses you see occurring over a period of time, typically one year or more." (Kushner & Company)  

An Inside Look at Wellness Program Strategies
"Employers report spending an average of $167 per participant per year on incentives, up from $154 a year ago.... [E]mployers ... are moving away from rewarding workers simply for signing up for, or even completing a wellness program. Many companies -- 43% -- are now rewarding for attaining specific health outcomes ... one-third of companies said they would be interested in rewarding for specific outcomes in the future." (Employee Benefit News)  

[Advert.]

Make Sure Your Clients Are Ready for a DOL Audit

With HR360's DOL Audit Checklist
AND Free Trial Access to Our Online Wrap SPD Generator

In 2013, the DOL's EBSA agency handled more than 236,000 employee complaints about their benefit plans, some of which triggered DOL audits. SPDs and a variety of other documents will be requested by DOL auditors. Will your clients be compliant?

CBO Throws in the Towel on Scoring Obamacare
"'The provisions that expand insurance coverage established entirely new programs or components of programs that can be isolated and reassessed,' the office wrote. 'In contrast, other provisions of the [ACA] significantly modified existing federal programs and made changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Isolating the incremental effects of those provisions on previously existing programs and revenues four years after enactment of the [ACA] is not possible." (The Hill)  

Drivers of 2015 Health Insurance Premium Changes (PDF)
"Much of the uncertainty regarding the health spending by plan enrollees that existed when insurers submitted their 2014 rates remains for 2015. How 2015 premiums change from 2014 will depend on how assumptions regarding the composition of the risk pool differ from those assumed for 2014. Other major drivers of 2015 premium changes include the reduction of reinsurance program funds and the underlying growth in health care costs." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

Off-Exchange vs. On-Exchange Premiums
"Plans sold off-exchange must offer the same essential health benefits as plans sold on the exchanges, but the primary difference between buying plans on- or off-exchange is that only on-exchange plans are eligible for government subsidies.... On average the least expensive bronze plans offered by the four off-exchange insurers were 45% more expensive than the least expensive bronze plans offered on the exchanges. [A table] displays the lowest bronze plan premiums and corresponding deductibles for each city in which at least one of the off-exchange carriers offered bronze plans." (HealthPocket)  

Growth and Variability in Health Plan Premiums in the Individual Insurance Market Before the ACA
"From 2008 to 2010, premiums grew by 10 percent or more per year. This growth was also highly variable across states, and even more variable across insurance plans within states. The study suggests that evaluating trends in premiums requires looking across a broad array of states and plans, and that policymakers must examine how present and future changes in premium rates compare with the more than 10 percent per year premium increases in the years preceding health reform." (The Commonwealth Fund)  

Hospital Charges Surge for Common Ailments
"Charges for some of the most common inpatient procedures surged at hospitals across the country in 2012 from a year earlier, some at more than four times the national rate of inflation ... Charges for chest pain, for instance, rose 10 percent to an average of $18,505 in 2012, from $16,815 in 2011. Average hospital charges for digestive disorders climbed 8.5 percent to nearly $22,000, from $20,278 in 2011." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

State Opt-Outs from Employee Choice in SHOP, and Other Developments
"State departments of insurance had until June 2, 2014 to ask that their states be excluded from employee choice in the FF-SHOP. At least fourteen states ... have done so.... The insurance commissioner letters are short -- some only a page -- and basically say that the commissioner has consulted with the small group insurers in his or her state and been told that the insurers believe that employee choice will cause adverse selection and increase premiums." (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs Blog)  

Feds Shift Obamacare Data Tech to Amazon Web Services
"Health insurers selling policies under the health-care law have been told that the Amazon Web Services cloud can be used as a host for important data that those insurers are required to share with [CMS] ... [The announcement] was met with resignation and some surprise by the insurers, many of whom had already purchased computer servers that the deal effectively made redundant.... The announcement came more than six months after insurers had suggested a cloud-based solution[.]" (CNBC)  

Obamacare Applications Have at Least 4 Million Errors as Backend Systems Remain Incomplete
"Committee leaders in May sent letters to [HHS], Accenture Federal Services, CGI Federal, and Serco regarding reports that inaccurate health care subsidies have been provided to more than one million Americans through the health care law. Documents obtained by the committee indicate the problem may be much larger." (Energy & Commerce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives)  

Text of Notice of Nominations for Vacancies on EBSA Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans
"The terms of five members of the Council expire at the end of this year. The groups or fields they represent are as follows: [1] Employee organizations; [2] employers; [3] investment management; [4] corporate trust; and [5] the general public.... Nominations (including supporting nominations) must be received on or before August 1, 2014." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor)  

Senator Sanders and Colleagues Propose Innovative Ideas to Encourage Employee Ownership
ESOP Association

Transamerica Retirement Solutions Report on Stable Value: Participants Agree Best Plans Offer Stable Value Investment Choice
Transamerica Retirement Solutions

CBIZ Acquires Tegrit Group’s Actuarial and Retirement Planning Services
CBIZ, Inc.

50 Employers Become Repeat Customers of Towers Watson’s OneExchange
Towers Watson

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