[Guidance Overview]
GASB's Exposure Drafts for OPEB Accounting: Comments to GASB Due by August 29, 2014
"The OPEB exposure drafts are modeled after GASB statements 67 and 68 for pension plans. The effective date would be fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, for plans, and fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, for employers.... As under GASB 67 and 68 for pension plans, the OPEB liabilities are to be valued using the entry age normal funding method. Currently, OPEB liabilities can be valued using one of six funding methods. As a result, the exposure drafts are narrowing the computation methods applied to one approach."
(Cheiron)
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[Guidance Overview]
Agencies Provide Further Accommodations to Organizations Opposing Mandated Contraceptive Coverage
"The proposed regulations acknowledge that an organization organized and operated as a closely held for-profit entity may be an eligible organization under the accommodation regulations but reserve and seek comment on the definition of such an entity ... [and] provide for an alternative written notice to qualify for the accommodation.... Questions remain whether the amended regulations require a church plan offered by an eligible organization to comply with the coverage and funding mechanisms in the regulations."
(Ballard Spahr LLP)
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FMLA Stands for 'Family and Medical Leave Avalanche'
"The statistics regarding FMLA litigation give more reasons to raise an eyebrow or two over the contention that the FMLA has had little to no negative impact among employers.... While most of these lawsuits claim both interference with employee FMLA rights and retaliation against employees who have taken FMLA leave, increasingly they also contain claims alleging employer failures to follow the technical requirements of the law, such as a failure to properly complete necessary paperwork or properly designate a leave as FMLA qualifying."
(Foley & Lardner LLP)
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New Contraceptive Rules Appear to Track Supreme Court Suggestion
"The new rules ... require those with religious objections to providing some or all FDA-approved contraceptives to ... notify the government rather than their insurance carriers that they cannot provide the coverage.... [T]he government would subsequently be responsible for notifying insurers, which would then arrange contraceptive coverage.... Some experts had worried about the government's ability to facilitate the coverage due to the intricacies of ERISA, the federal law that governs pension and health benefits. But the interim rules explicitly give the government the ability to make benefit changes in the absence of the objecting religious organizations."
(Kaiser Health News)
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Look Beyond ACA Wellness Regs When Designing Your Program: EEOC Sues Employer Under ADA
"[The EEOC] recently sued an employer in Wisconsin claiming the penalty the employer imposed for nonparticipation in its program was too significant, causing the medical inquiries under the program to be involuntary for purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).... Many employers are in the process of reviewing their medical plans ... for 2015. The focus is largely on ACA compliance, in particular the employer shared responsibility penalties. But ... employers need to also be reviewing the ACA wellness program regulations, as well as the other laws that may affect their wellness program design and administration, such as the ADA."
(Jackson Lewis)
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2015 Obamacare Specialty Drug Costs
"Out-of-pocket specialty drug costs for platinum plans were 64% lower than gold plans, 74% lower than silver plans, and 78% lower than bronze plans.... In every bronze plan examined, the three most expensive drugs (Gleevec, Copaxone, and Norditropin) each incurred annual out-of-pocket costs that reached the plan's out-of-pocket limit. The same occurred with platinum plans for each of the four most expensive drugs, but platinum plans typically have much lower out-of-pocket limits than bronze plans."
(HealthPocket)
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Patient Cost-Sharing Under the Affordable Care Act
"This report summarizes the ACA's provisions that set in place a broader set of required benefits and limit or reduce patients' out-of-pocket costs. These provisions significantly expand the amount of coverage individuals are required to buy when compared to the pre-reform individual market. The report also details requirements in the law that require comprehensive coverage of prescription drugs -- which is broadly similar to the scope of prescription drug coverage offered under similar employer-sponsored plans and Medicare Part D."
(America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP])
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An Overview of 60 Contracts That Contributed to the Development and Operation of the Federal Marketplace
"This report is the first in a series that will address the planning, acquisition, management, and performance oversight of Federal Marketplace contracts, as well as various aspects of Federal Marketplace operations. This report provides descriptive and financial data on 60 contracts related to the development of the Federal Marketplace at HealthCare.gov."
(Office of Inspector General [OIG], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])
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California Requires Insurers to Cover Cost of Abortions
"Last fall, Santa Clara University and Loyola Marymount University notified their employees that abortion services would no longer be covered under the universities' health care plans. Employees instead could pay for such procedures through supplemental coverage, provided by a third party.... [California] Department of Managed Health Care director Michelle Rouillard told the insurers that the state had 'erroneously approved' language in the universities' plan that excluded abortion services. She clarified that insurers must comply with California law and respect the coverage of legal abortions."
(Sharyl Attkisson, in The Daily Signal)
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Will Cost Hikes Force Cuts in Health Benefits for Spouse and Kids?
"[F]or 2016 and 2017, a third (33%) of employers are considering significantly reducing company subsidies for spouses and dependents; 10% have already implemented such reductions, and nine percent intend to do so in 2015. In addition, 26% said they are considering spouse exclusions or surcharges if coverage is available elsewhere; 30% have that tactic in place now, and another seven percent expect to add it in 2015."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
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UnitedHealth's Exchange Presence to Increase Competition
"Competition is about to get stiffer for insurers selling plans on many health insurance exchanges with UnitedHealthcare entering 24 states' online marketplaces with what it says will be affordable plans ... With such a large jump in exchange presence -- from just four state exchanges last year -- other insurers will monitor UnitedHealth's exchange-related moves as they seek to compete against the new exchange entrant."
(FierceHealthPayer)
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[Opinion]
Let's Add Some Cash to the Copper (and Other) Plans
"Insurers should be free to offer copper, or lead, or brass or whatever policy they want. However, as long as the federal government is subsidizing insurers billions of dollars in these exchanges, it should offer some of the money for beneficiaries' direct use, via deposits in Health Savings Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements or Flexible Spending Arrangements, instead of handing it over to insurers."
(Health Policy Blog of National Center for Policy Analysis)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Executive Retirement Benefits in the Wake of Qualified Plan Changes
"Most Fortune 200 companies that closed or froze their qualified DB plans now provide DC-style retirement benefits to executives. The prevalence of SERPs declined by slightly more than one-third in the hybrid conversion group versus nearly two-thirds in the DC-only group. Most companies that closed or froze their plans used similar transition approaches for both executive and broad-based plans."
(Towers Watson)
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Employers Make the Business Case for Benefits Through RFPs
"The request-for-proposal process is becoming more routine among benefit managers at private companies, according to the Disability Management Employer Coalition, an association focused on educating employers on disability insurance, absence management and return-to-work solutions. Terri L. Rhodes, DMEC's executive director, explains that those responsible for procurement may need educating in order to ensure that their companies are gaining the best vendor partner to offer these benefits. Meanwhile, she says, because so much has changed following the recession and subsequent financial recovery, RFPs are a good strategic move."
(Employee Benefit News)
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SEC Rulemakings Expected as Proxy Advisor Guidance and Greater ISS Focus On Equity Plans Set Stage for 2015
"The [Center on Executive Compensation] made several suggestions to the SEC, including limiting the application of the pay ratio to U.S. full-time employees as well as providing companies with a more realistic compliance time frame through the use of a 'look-back' period.... The Center continues to encourage the SEC to use the forthcoming proposed rules implementing the Dodd-Frank pay for performance disclosure to promote greater consistency in the use of supplemental pay disclosures (i.e., realized and realizable pay), along the lines it has championed in its Conceptual Framework for Supplemental Pay Disclosures."
(HR Policy Association)
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Press Releases
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![Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]](https://benefitslink.com/bnrs/2014/IFEBP_fmla14_top.jpg "Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]")