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Travel Pay: Handling it Correctly!
July 31, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thompson Interactive)

Navigating the Health Insurance Landscape: What’s Next for Navigators, In-person Assisters and Brokers?
August 5, 2014 in DC
(Alliance for Health Reform)

Bobrow Update: IRA Amendment Timing & Related Considerations
August 7, 2014 WEBCAST
(Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC)

Navigating Medicare Eligibility and Enrollment and Maximizing Social Security Benefits
August 19, 2014 in CA
(ISCEBS - North California Chapter)

ERISA Assembly
September 30, 2014 in VA
(Momentum Events Group)

Women Adviser Summit
October 7, 2014 in NY
(InvestmentNews)

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Releases Draft Forms for Employer Reporting Requirements Under ACA
"The good news is that these forms appear relatively simple to complete. The bad news, however, is that compiling the information necessary to complete these forms will likely impose significant administrative burdens.... [T]he significant amount of information that is required to be reported to both employees and the IRS on these forms may factor in to an employer's overall strategy for compliance with Health Care Reform's pay or play penalty requirement. Further, the IRS is accepting comments on the draft versions of the forms from employers who have suggestions for improvements." (Miller Johnson)  

[Advert.]

Super Saver Rate Ends Friday for Benefits Conference

45+ workshops led by benefits experts cover such hot button issues as retirement readiness, ACA's Cadillac tax, employee engagement, private exchanges and more. Exclusively for employers. Earn 14.5 HRCI credits. Register by August 1 and save $200!

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Forms Address Information Reporting under ACA
"On July 24, 2014, the IRS issued a set of draft forms (Forms 1095-C, 1094-C, 1095-B and 1094-B) which, when finalized, will be used by employers and insurers in satisfying health care reform's information reporting requirements under Sections 6055 and 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code. According to an IRS announcement regarding the forms: Draft instructions for completing the forms will be released in August [and] the forms and the instructions will be finalized in 2014." (Practical Law Company)  

[Guidance Overview]

Implementing the ACA: Delays, Extensions, and Other Actions Taken by the Administration, Updated July 28, 2014 (PDF)
"[A table] summarizes selected administrative actions taken by CMS and the IRS to address ACA implementation. The table entries, which are grouped under general topic headings, are not organized in any particular priority order. Each entry includes a brief summary of the action and some accompanying explanatory material and comments to help provide additional context. Where available, links are provided to relevant regulatory and guidance documents online.... This report is updated periodically to reflect significant ACA implementation actions taken by the Administration." (Congressional Research Service [CRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

The Health Care Assister's Guide to Tax Rules: Determining Eligibility for Medicaid and Premium Tax Credits (PDF)
34 pages. "This guide is designed to familiarize people who are assisting consumers with the health care affordability program application with the tax rules that are applied in determining eligibility for these programs. A basic understanding of these rules can help guide discussions with applicants, especially those with complicated family situations or multiple sources of income, or who are unfamiliar with filing taxes." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)  

[Guidance Overview]

2015 Benefit Correction Notice Resource Guide for Issuers: Qualified Health Plan and Stand-Alone Dental Plan Design (PDF)
"This Resource Guide was developed to assist Qualified Health Plan (QHP) and Stand-Alone Dental Plan (SADP) issuers in addressing certain required corrections related to plan design (e.g., nondiscrimination, meaningful difference, and cost sharing reduction plan variations)." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

D.C. Appeals Court Rejects New Test of Health Insurance Mandate
"Ruling that the federal health care law's mandate to buy health insurance is a law about a tax but not about raising government revenue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [has] rejected a new constitutional challenge to that key part of the [ACA].... Because the mandate was not designed primarily to bring in money to the Treasury, the court of appeals concluded, it was not a revenue measure that, under the Constitution, must have its legislative start in the House of Representatives." [Sissel v. HHS, No. 13-5202 (D.C. Cir. July 29, 2014)] (SCOTUSblog)  

OCR to Begin Phase 2 of HIPAA Audit Program
"The Phase 2 Audit Program will focus on areas of greater risk to the security of protected health information (PHI) and pervasive noncompliance based on OCR's Phase I Audit findings and observations ... OCR will use the Phase 2 Audit findings to identify technical assistance that it should develop for covered entities and business associates.... [The authors] summarize OCR's Phase 1 Audit findings, describe the Phase 2 Audit program and identify steps that covered entities and business associates should take to prepare for the Phase 2 Audits." (McDermott Will & Emery)  

Employee Terminated for Migraine Headaches Can Advance FMLA Claim
"Strike One: The employer failed to recognize that migraines could be covered by FMLA.... Strike Two: The employer used Jill's absences for migraine headaches as a negative factor in her employment evaluations, which is a sure fire way to lose on summary judgment.... Strike Three: Jill's supervisors learned that she had applied for 'FMLA leave,' yet they still chose to terminate her employment at that time for 'job abandonment.'" [Alexander v. Boeing Co., No. C13-1369RAJ (W.D. Wash. July 28, 2014)] (FMLA Insights)  

Proposed Paid Medical Leave Legislation Includes Incentives for Employers
"Introduced in the Senate (S.2618) and as a companion bill in the House of Representatives (H.R.5173) in July, the 'Strong Families Act' stipulates that the employer will receive a 25% non-refundable tax credit for each hour of paid leave provided. U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced the paid leave proposal to serve as an extension of the Family and Medical Leave Act to encourage employers of all sizes to provide leave options to their employees, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time." (Employee Benefit News)  

House Panel Told Changes Are Coming for Employer Health Plans Under ACA
"Many employer-based health insurance plans covering approximately 170 million people 'will change or disappear' due to [ACA] requirements [Stan Veuger, resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, told the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee].... 'The most obvious way that it happens is very similar to what happened in the individual market,' where plans covering as many as 9 million people were canceled in 2013 because they didn't meet ACA requirements, [he said]." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Job Lock After the ACA: How Many Hang On for Health Coverage? (PDF)
"When asked outright whether respondents would quit their jobs if they could buy health insurance comparable in cost and coverage to the policies they currently have through their employers, 40 percent said they would. About one-third (32 percent) said they don't know whether they would take that leap. Respondents were also asked whether they ever considered leaving their jobs but didn't because they didn't want to give up their health insurance. More than half (56 percent) say they have considered it." (Securian Financial Group)  

Paid Vacation Benefits Available to 77 Percent of Private-Industry Employees
"Access to paid vacations varied significantly by occupation. Paid vacation benefits were available to 55 percent of private-industry workers in service occupations in March 2014. In contrast, over 90 percent of private-industry workers in production occupations, installation, maintenance, and repair occupations, and management, business, and financial occupations received paid vacations." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

Premium Subsidy Fight Creating Uncertainty for Hospitals, Health Plans
"The tax subsidies are a key provision of Obamacare that keeps health insurance affordable for millions of people, and the uncertainty created by the rulings is a 'credit negative' for health plans and not-for-profit hospitals, Moody's Investors Service said." (HealthLeaders Media)  

Almost No One Wants the Obamacare Employer Mandate: Here's Why
"'The employer mandate is not an essential feature of the Affordable Care Act,' said Dr. Bob Kocher, former special assistant to the president for healthcare and economic policy. Kocher worked extensively on the law in 2009 and 2010. 'The best course now would be to forego it as long as job growth remains slow, few employers drop coverage, and Americans who can't get insurance at work can find it on the marketplaces created by the law,' he said. Support for the employer mandate has faded in part because employers have continued to offer benefits, even without a penalty." (Los Angeles Times)  

West Virginia Sues, Contends Administration's Extension for Noncompliant Individual Policies Was Illegal
"West Virginia's attorney general ... faulted President Barack Obama for an 'administrative fix' last year that burdens states with the cancellation or approval of health-care plans that don't comply with the new law. Shifting that responsibility to states violates provisions of the health-care overhaul and constitutional limitations on the powers of the U.S. government, according to the complaint filed [July 29] in federal court in Washington." (Bloomberg Businessweek)  

Over-The-Counter Vitamin Supplements Triggered Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion
"What sort of 'medical treatment' triggers the pre-existing condition exclusion in an ERISA-governed disability policy? Can taking over-the-counter vitamin supplements trigger the exclusion? Yes.... [The employee] had a progressive eye disease. In 1994, his doctor directed him to start taking daily 15,000 unit doses of an over-the-counter vitamin A supplement. This could slow, but not cure, this progressive disease which can lead to blindness. In June 2010 [his] employer bought a new policy for the ERISA-governed disability benefit." [Kutten v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, 2014 WL 3562783 (8th Cir. July 21, 2014)] (Lane Powell PC)  

Survey of Federal Funding for Health Insurance Exchanges (PDF)
"To fund the establishment of exchanges, the ACA authorizes the HHS Secretary to award grants to states through 2014. Each exchange is expected to generate its own funds to sustain its operations beginning January 1, 2015. This report provides a state-by-state breakdown of the grants awarded to date. It then briefly describes the requirement for exchanges to be self-sustaining, and concludes with a discussion of the sources and amounts of funding that HHS has used and plans to use to support FFE operations." (Congressional Research Service [CRS])  

Employers Can Pay Adoption Expenses for Their Employees on Tax-Advantaged Basis
"An employer who desires to help its employees with adoption expenses just needs to establish a written plan document that spells out the terms of the program ... Subject to certain limitations, amount paid under an adoption assistance plan are generally excludable from an employee's income." (McAfee & Taft)  

As Profits Roll In, Aetna to Expand on Obamacare Exchange in 2015
"Aetna said ... it will expand its private health insurance products on government exchanges under the [ACA] next year to the additional market of Georgia based on the company's first-year successes.... Though new membership from government run, so-called 'public,' exchanges under the health law is just 2 percent of company business, Aetna is seeing a boom in Americans signing up to the expanded Medicaid program for the poor[.]" (Forbes)  

[Opinion]

D.C. Circuit Wrongly Rejects Constitutional 'Origination Clause' Challenge to Obamacare
"[The] D.C. Circuit decision ... holds that there is another variety of tax that isn't a 'bill for raising revenue.' And that is, taxes whose 'main object or aim' is something other than generating income for the government. According to this 'purposive approach,' the court says, the court should look to 'the primary aim' of the bill to decide whether the Origination Clause applies -- without regard for whether it will 'generate substantial revenues.' But the Supreme Court has never endorsed this vague 'purposive approach,' and for good reason." [Sissel v. HHS, No. 13-5202 (D.C. Cir. July 29, 2014)] (Cato Institute)  

[Opinion]

Amicus Brief by U.S. Chamber of Commerce Urging Supreme Court to Overrule Sixth Circuit Presumption of Vesting for Retiree Health Benefits (PDF)
"The Sixth Circuit's interpretive approach misreads silence as reflecting an affirmative agreement by the parties. Silence is not how sophisticated parties memorialize an agreement to provide costly, immutable healthcare benefits.... [T]his Court should reaffirm that the clear-statement rule ... governs the interpretation of retiree welfare benefit provisions. That rule aligns with the reality that employers agreeing to vested healthcare benefits for retirees would only do so expressly. It also provides a clear rule that will produce consistent and predictable results." [M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, No. 13-1010 (on appeal from 6th Cir., cert. granted May 5, 2014)] (U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable)  

Transamerica Expands Enrollment Options to Better Serve Employers and Employees
Transamerica

Littler Adds Seasoned ERISA and Employment Litigator Sherril M. Colombo to its Miami Office
Littler Mendelson

NFP Advisor Services Announces Significant Enhancements to its Retirement Plan Capabilities
National Financial Partners Corp. [NFP]

Ecommerce for Employee Benefits is an Idea Whose Time has Come
Spotlite

Dynamic Health Strategies and Cerner Sign Product Development and Marketing Agreement
Dynamic Health Strategies

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