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Ethical Issues in the Executive Compensation Area – Including the Independent Counsel Provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act
June 25, 2014 in IL
(National Association Of Stock Plan Professionals [NASPP] - Chicago Chapter)

Best Practices, Challenges, and Solutions for Auto Features in Public Sector Retirement Savings Plans -- Recorded
July 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(ICMA-RC)

Retirement Plans After Windsor
July 8, 2014 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

A Practical Guide to Employee Benefit Plan Reporting and Disclosure Requirements under the ACA, HIPAA, ERISA and the Code
July 10, 2014 in CA
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

Executive Compensation Basics: Anatomies of Severance and Release Agreements
July 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP)

ASPPA Governance Reorganization
July 22, 2014 in MN
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Greater Twin Cities)

IRA Basics
July 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

IRA Required Minimum Distributions
July 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Top Five Take-Aways from the GASB OPEB Accounting Exposure Draft
"Most of the proposed GASB 67/68 pension changes are carrying over to OPEB -- which is not surprising.... Goodbye community-rating exception to the implicit subsidy liability.... All plans will now use the Entry Age Normal (level percent of pay) actuarial method to allocate liabilities between past and future service periods.... Disclosure of the Net OPEB Liability's [NOL's] sensitivity to changes in medical trend (+/- 1%), discount rate (+/- 1%), and combinations thereof. This means a total of 9 different NOL measurements.... Calculation of an Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) and development of a funding policy." (Van Iwaarden Associates)  

[Advert.]

Please join us for our 3rd Annual ftwilliam.com Customer Conference!

Sign-up for our 3rd Annual ftwilliam.com Customer Conference, August 3-5 in downtown Chicago! Earn CE credits while learning about the latest industry news and trends, interacting with your peers, and learning more about your ftwilliam.com software tools.

A Private Health Insurance Exchange Checklist
"Consider this your 'everything you ever wanted to know about private exchanges' list. Use it as your guide to important considerations before your organization makes the move." (Human Resource Executive Online)  

Emergence of Single-Carrier Model Expected in Private Health Insurance Exchanges
"Fifty-six percent of those who work for health insurers indicated they will use a single-carrier private HIX as a sales channel for their products before the end of the year, while such sales are expected to target all market segments. In addition, 75% of respondents believe most health insurers will offer a single-carrier private HIX by the end of 2016 and 93% predicted the same by 2018." (Employee Benefit News)  

CMS Presentation Slides: Federally-facilitated Marketplace User Fees and 2014 Issuer Reconciliation Training (PDF)
27 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Overview of FF-SHOP User Fees; [2] 2014 Reconciliation Issuer Timeline; [3] FF -SHOP Enrollment File Template for 2014 Plan Year Issuer Reporting; [4] Requirements; [5] Helpful Hints; [6] Test File Transmission; [7] Production File Transmission; [8] File Support; and [9] Resources. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

Consumer Engagement Among HSA and HRA Enrollees: Findings from the 2013 EBRI/Greenwald and Associates Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey
"[I]ndividuals with an HSA were more likely than individuals with an HRA to report that they had participated in a health-risk assessment, health-promotion program, or biometric screening program when it was available. Four-fifths (81 percent) of individuals with an HSA participated in a health-risk assessment, compared with 66 percent of individuals with an HRA. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of individuals with an HSA participated in a health-promotion program, compared with 48 percent of individuals with an HRA. Over four-fifths (83 percent) of individuals with an HSA participated in biometric screening, compared with 72 percent of individuals with an HRA." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

[Advert.]

BenefitsLink app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch now available!

Stay up-to-date while you're on the go with the BenefitsLink App -- now available for iPad, iPhone 5, and iPod touch.

Eighth Annual Study of Employee Benefits Today and Beyond: The ABCs of Voluntary (PDF)
"For 71% of employees, the offer of voluntary benefits increases the value [of] their company's overall benefits program, up from 63% in 2012. The number of employees interested in having their employer offer more voluntary benefits has also grown (43% in 2013 compared to 34% in 2012).... Over half (51%) of employers say they are currently implementing or have already implemented offering more voluntary products, which is a significant increase over last year (32% in 2012).... Forty-nine percent say they have been successful in achieving their desired cost savings as a result of implementation-up from 28% last year." (Prudential)  

Premiums Rise at Big Insurers, Fall at Small Rivals Under ACA
"In all but one of [10 states], the largest health insurer in the state is proposing to increase premiums between 8.5% and 22.8% for next year ... At the same time, insurers with the smallest enrollments are proposing to cut rates so they can lure customers as the cheapest plans in their markets." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

HHS Claim of ACA Success Challenged
"[T]he federal government is on track to spend at least $11 billion on subsidies for consumers who bought health plans on marketplaces run by the federal government ... [T]his total does not count the additional cost of providing coverage to the 1/3 of the 8 million new people who signed up for coverage who bought coverage in states that ran their own marketplaces ... [If] these state consumers received roughly comparable government assistance for their insurance premiums, the total cost of subsidies could top $16.5 billion this year, resulting in budgetary costs 'far higher' than the $10 million budgetary cost that the [CBO] projected subsidies would cost U.S. taxpayers in 2014." (Solutions Law Press)  

Newark Sick Leave Poster Now Available: Employers Must Act by June 21
"The City of Newark Department of Child and Family Well-Being recently prepared a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document, and advised ... that posting this FAQ document in a conspicuous place will satisfy the employer's posting requirement ... [E]mployers must [also] provide individual written notice to each employee. Unfortunately, the Department has not yet issued a model notice ... [T]he ordinance requires employers to not only post and distribute in English, but also in any language that is the first language of at least 10 percent of the employer's workforce." (Ogletree Deakins)  

[Opinion]

Is Paid Family Leave Bad for Business?
"Efforts to pass paid maternity leave in the United States stretch back to at least 1919. In the intervening years, as most other countries have guaranteed income for new mothers taking time off ... we've learned much about the specific ways paid leave helps babies, parents and entire families.... At virtually every juncture, its benefits have been overshadowed by a single powerful argument: that paid leave is bad for business. But is it?" (CNN)  

[Opinion]

Text of Testimony on Behalf of American Academy of Actuaries to House Oversight Committee Hearing: 'How Obamacare Helps Insurance Companies Even If It Fails Patients' (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The ACA does not necessarily establish universal participation ... and therefore some degree of adverse selection is inevitable.... The substantial influx of previously uninsured individuals into the new health insurance exchanges created by the ACA also could make it more difficult for insurers to price plans accurately... The risk-sharing mechanisms interact not only with each other, but also with other elements of the ACA. Any changes to these provisions should be made with careful consideration of these interrelationships and the impact of how revisions could affect insurer risks, insurance availability, and insurance premiums." (Cori E. Uccello, Senior Fellow, American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

Text of Testimony on Behalf of American Enterprise Institute for House Subcommittee Hearing: 'The President's Health Care Law Does Not Equal Health Care Access' (PDF)
"The last time that the commercial insurance industry tried to popularize these restrictive provider networks and closed drug formularies, was in the 1990s with the advent of closed HMOs. It led to a backlash that ultimately culminated in the introduction of the Patients Bill of Rights. Not this time. Narrow networks and drug formularies have been rendered politically acceptable as a result of the concessions made in the ACA. As a result, we will start to see these same approaches become far more prevalent in the commercial insurance market, and even Medicare." (Scott Gottlieb, MD, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute)  

[Opinion]

What Would It Cost to 'Fix' Obamacare?
"Boosting the tax credit for small businesses: $14 billion ... The employer mandate: A $130 billion mystery ... Paying Medicaid doctors a better rate: $12 billion ... Expanding subsidized coverage to families: Billions, probably ... A new coverage tier: Cost unclear." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

[Guidance Overview]

Anatomy of a Deferred Compensation Plan (PDF)
39 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Overview of Section 409A; [2] Structuring deferred compensation to satisfy exclusions from Section 409A; [3] Documentary requirements under Section 409A; [4] Initial deferral election rules under Section 409A; [5] Permitted distribution events under Section 409A; [6] Permitted subsequent deferrals and acceleration of distributions under Section 409A; and [7] Correcting plan errors under Section 409A. (Morgan Lewis)  

[Opinion]

Text of Testimony on Behalf of the American Benefits Council Before the ERISA Advisory Council Hearing on Outsourcing of Employee Benefit Plan Services (PDF)
"I encourage the ERISA Advisory Council, and indeed the Department of Labor and other regulatory bodies who have oversight of employer sponsored employee benefits, to recognize that outsourcing will mean different things to different people and companies and in the context of different benefit plans. For this reason, in particular, flexibility must be a key component of any government or company initiative to shape the selection and monitoring of a supplier to whom a portion of the plan function has been outsourced." (Allison Klausner, for American Benefits Council)  

New Legal Way to Provide Employee Assistance For Individually Owned Premiums
BASE

Securian Financial Group Names New CEO
Securian Financial Group

Actuaries Rise at Securian
Securian Financial Group

CBG Benefits Partners with Maxwell Health to Simplify Employee Benefits Administration and Open Enrollment
CBG Benefits

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