Retirement Plans - Client Relationship Manager
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp.
in LA, TN, TX

Lead Legal Analyst
T. Rowe Price
in MD

Director - Retirement Plan Services
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
in IL

Daily Team Associate I
MBM Advisors, Inc.
in TX

Account Manager
Nova 401(k) Associates
in ANY STATE

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Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Series -- Open Q&A
June 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))

Transitional Reinsurance Program: An Overview of Policy and Operations for Reinsurance Contributions
June 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and Abandoned Plan Program
June 24, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor)

Is Your Benefits Knowledge in Jeopardy?
June 26, 2014 in DC
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Washington Metropolitan Chapter)

SunGard's Just for ERPAs Workshop
September 2, 2014 in IL
(SunGard Relius)

SunGard's Advanced Pension Conference - Chicago 2014
September 3, 2014 in IL
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

HHS Approval of State Recommendations to Not Implement Employee Choice in 2015
"[This web page includes] a list of all states with a Federally-facilitated SHOP and provides information on whether each state will implement employee choice in 2015 or instead allow for transition relief. In total, 18 states with a Federally-facilitated SHOP will allow for this transition relief in 2015. The remaining 14 states with a Federally-facilitated SHOP will join most State-based SHOPs and have employee choice available to small businesses in 2015, doubling the number of states offering this option. In 2015, nearly two-thirds of Americans will live in states where small business workers can choose a health plan rather than have their employer do it for them." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)  

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[Guidance Overview]

Summaries of Benefits and Coverage: Another Year of Eased Enforcement
"[The Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services] will maintain an overall emphasis on cooperation with plan sponsors over SBC duties, rather than penalty enforcement, provided that the plan sponsor has worked 'diligently and in good faith' to fulfill SBC duties on its own. (Penalties would apply only in the case of 'willful' failure to provide required SBC information, in any event.)" (E is for ERISA)  

[Guidance Overview]

CMS Discusses Transitional Reinsurance Fee Process; PCORI Filing Due to IRS by July 31 (PDF)
"The on-line process will be available at www.pay.gov and will allow registration, submission of the average number of covered lives and remittance of the fee.... [T]he annual fee to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), is payable to IRS by July 31. The PCORI fee is remitted with IRS Form 720, in a manner similar to the process used by employers last year." (Lockton)  

[Guidance Overview]

Agency FAQs Offer Guidance on Out-of-Pocket Maximums, Preventive Care, SBCs, and More (PDF)
"Employers with prescription drug programs that require additional cost sharing for brand drugs ... should review those programs immediately to ensure compliance with these new requirements.... Health FSAs offered to employees not eligible for the employer's medical plan (e.g., part-time employees) ... will be subject to ACA mandates, including the prohibition on annual dollar limits, and the plan sponsor could be subject to excise taxes for failure to comply.... [E]mployers should confirm that that all employees offered health FSAs are also eligible for their medical coverage." (Buck Consultants)  

[Guidance Overview]

HHS Lists SHOP Employee Choice Opt-Outs by State Insurance Commissioners
"Barring a further change in policy, employee choice will be available in all federal exchange states in 2016. Employee choice was already available in most of the state exchange states for 2014, and presumably will continue to be so in 2015." (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs Blog)  

Proposed Pennsylvania Mechanics' Lien Law Could Mean Litigation Over ERISA Preemption
"It has been reported that Rep. William Keller, D-Philadelphia, introduced a bill in the General Assembly to amend the state's Mechanics' Lien Law to classify union benefit fund trustees as subcontractors allowed to pursue claims for nonpayment against employers and property owners. This action followed a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that unions and benefit fund trustees do not qualify as subcontractors as a result of collective bargaining agreements with employers. There is one small problem with this bill: the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ... [which] sets forth the procedure for fund trustees to collect for nonpayment, and would seemingly preempt such a state law." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

Majority of Employers Believe ACA Has Negatively Affected Them
"More than half of single employers believe that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has had a negative effect on their company ... Nearly 90 percent of employers expect ACA to increase their company's health care costs in 2014, resulting in many employees seeing higher out-of-pocket costs and increased premiums and deductibles.... Nearly one-third of employers have increased out-of-pocket limits, increased participants' share of premium costs and/or increased in-network deductibles. More than one in five have increased copayments or coinsurance for primary care and/or increased employee proportions of dependent coverage costs. More than two in five employers expect to see the greatest cost increases due to ACA in 2015." (Joseph A. LoCicero and Timothy R. Barron, CAIA, in Benefits Magazine)  

FMLA: Auditing the Third-Party Administrator
"For many companies, the sheer size and complication of the task of [FMLA] administration has led to a decision to outsource the work to a third-party administrator.... As the employer, it will be you that is on the hook for FMLA violations, even when such violations occur as a result of a third-party administrator failing to properly perform FMLA administration." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  

U.S. Employers Interested in Exploring Stricter Rules Around Health Benefits and Reference-Based Pricing
"In the next three-to-five years, more than 60 percent of employers plan to 'gate' employees to richer designs, where employees are required to complete a 'task' to access richer design options. About one in five employers gate their employees today.... In addition, 68 percent of employers plan to adopt reference-based pricing-where employers set a pricing cap on benefits for certain medical services for which wide cost variation exists with no discernible differentiation in quality. Just 10 percent of employers have adopted reference-based pricing as a health tactic today." (Aon Hewitt)  

Upton, Sessions Press HHS for Answers on 'Unlawful' Risk Corridor Payments
"The congressional leaders express concern that, 'HHS may not make payments under Section 1342 absent additional congressional action appropriating funds for such payments. Without an explicit appropriation, any money spent on the risk corridor program would be based on an illegal transfer of funds and your agency could be held in violation of the Antideficiency Act.'" (Energy & Commerce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives)  

Telecommuting: Benefit or Accommodation?
"In 2012, a [U.S. district court in Michigan] acknowledged ... that employers are entitled to judge whether it is acceptable for their employees to work from home. However, the Sixth Circuit recently reversed[,] ... saying the telecommuting request of one employee may have been a request for a reasonable accommodation, thereby sending the decision back to trial for a jury to decide. [One employment attorney] says the appellate court's reversal has signaled a game-change in the way such cases will be handled in the future." [EEOC v. Ford Motor Company, No. 12-2484 (6th Cir. Apr. 22, 2014)] (Human Resource Executive Online)  

Your Work-Life Balance Should Be Your Company's Problem
"This is the first study to offer evidence based on a randomized trial that workplace interventions, such as increased schedule control and supervisor support, can reduce employee work-life conflict.... [T]he research shows that there is a way to move away from ... individual accommodations that a person negotiates with his or her boss -- and toward systemic change in an organization that benefits all." (Nanette Fondas in Harvard Business Review Blog Network)  

SHOP Flop: Obamacare for Small Businesses
"The choice feature was already delayed this year for most of the 32 states that relied on the federal exchange for small businesses, although 17 states and the District of Columbia are operating their own SHOPs, many of which do offer the choice option and online enrollment. Supporters say this new delay of choice in the 18 states could gravely damage the small business exchange's growth." (Politico)  

[Opinion]

Proposed Solutions to Enhance Affordability, Stability and Accessibility in the New Health Care Marketplace
"Improving the consumer experience ... needs to be a continuous effort that involves all stakeholders. Health plans are already leading the way to provide more affordable options, better accessibility, and stability for families. As part of our ongoing commitment to consumers, we are proposing a series of solutions that will enhance: [1] Affordability by creating a new lower premium Catastrophic Plan option; [2] Stability by ensuring Continuity of Care protections; and [3] Accessibility through Greater Transparency of consumer choices." (America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP])  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by NHeLP to HHS on Request for Information Regarding Provider Non-Discrimination
"Monitoring health plans for nondiscrimination should be ongoing and not dependent on annual compliance reviews. To that end, regulations should require that health plans provide written notice explaining the reason(s) a health plan denies participation to a provider or groups of providers.... [NHelp recommends] the establishment of network adequacy protections in the [Public Health Service Act] section 2706 regulations to ensure consumers in all health plans can obtain covered services from available licensed providers in their states." (National Health Law Program [NHeLP])  

[Opinion]

The Extended 'Fix' for Canceled Health Insurance Policies: Latest State Action
"[M]any states chose not to allow insurers to renew noncompliant policies after January 1, 2014.... However, at least nine states that did not adopt the administration's original transitional policy ... are now allowing renewals of noncompliant policies after January 1, 2014.... These states will join the 29 states that adopted the administration's original transitional policy.... The continued existence of noncompliant policies may have the greatest negative impact on the small-group market, and the [SHOP] marketplaces in particular.... The decision to allow noncompliant policies to continue means insurers may delay these critical reforms for up to 36 months in policies covering millions of Americans." (The Commonwealth Fund)  

[Guidance Overview]

Disability Premiums, But Not Most Medical, Can Escape Income Inclusion When Paid by Retirement Plans (PDF)
"The final IRS regulation opens the door for a specialized type of disability product that can be used in a qualified plan or 403(b) plan. As demand grows and product ideas expand, plan sponsors will be better positioned to evaluate the best options for participants, taking into account underwriting limits, premium costs, and alternative policies that may be available outside of the plan on an after-tax basis." (Buck Consultants)  

The ERISA Uncertainty Principle: Edmonson v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and ERISA's Unanswered Questions (PDF)
"ERISA at 40 is showing the kind of identity crisis that might signal an impending mid-life crisis. The petition underscores the substantial uncertainty that continues to surround the statute despite the significant judicial interpretation the federal courts have applied to its provisions over the last 40 years.... [It] raises two fundamental questions about the extent of ERISA's reach. First, who is subject to ERISA's fiduciary obligations? And, second, when are benefits due under an ERISA plan no longer plan assets subject to the statute?" [Edmonson v. Lincoln National Life Ins. Co., No. 12-1581 (3d Cir. Aug. 7, 2013; cert. denied May 19, 2014)] (Jenner & Block, via Employee Relations Law Journal)  

2014 Report of Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (PDF)
357 pages. Topics relevant to employee benefits include: [1] Analysis and Recommendations Regarding the Pre-Approved and Determination Letter Programs Exempt Organizations; and [2] The Affordable Care Act and Government Employees. [IRS Publication 4344, Rev. June 2014] (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

2013 CEO Pay Levels Increase as Companies Brace for Pay Volatility
"2013 saw the first material uptick in pay levels since 2010. Base salaries grew 1.7 percent to $1.2 million, while annual incentive payments increased for the first time since 2010 by 4 percent to $2.3 million, yielding an overall increase of 3.7 percent in median cash compensation to $3.6 million. Long-term incentive (LTI) grants increased as well, growing 3.8 percent to $7.9 million, leaving total direct compensation with a healthy 5.5 percent growth to just more than $11.4 million." (The Wall Street Journal / Hay Group 2013 CEO Compensation Study)  

CMS Announces Opportunity to Apply for Navigator Grants in Federally-facilitated and State Partnership Marketplaces
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Steptoe Adds Joni Andrioff to Tax and ERISA, Labor & Employment Groups
Steptoe & Johnson LLP

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