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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
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Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles,
official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
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[Guidance Overview]
Two Important Deadlines Approaching for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
"If you sponsor a self-insured group health plan, then November includes two important deadlines: [1] you must obtain a health plan identifier for your plan, and [2] you must report the number of participants for whom a transitional reinsurance fee is due."
(Foley & Lardner LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
Hobby Lobby Fallout, Part 2 -- with an Expanded Non-Profit Twist
"[Once notified of an employer's objection, the] government can then turn around and tell the insurer/TPA to provide the coverage for the contraceptives.... This creates many potential questions. For example, who is responsible for monitoring this 'plan administrator?' If the 'plan administrator' breaches a fiduciary duty, is the eligible organization potentially responsible for co-fiduciary liability (certainly, the government would not be)? Do insurers/TPAs need to make sure that they have fidelity bonds since the plan benefits are not paid from the general assets of the employer? Do they need to establish trusts for these benefits? It's likely that the DOL will come out with FAQs that answers the last three questions in the negative. However, the ERISA fiduciary implications of such an appointment are unclear."
(Benefits Bryan Cave)
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[Guidance Overview]
Retired and Rehired: ACA Penalties Can be Avoided if Employer Adopts the Look Back Measurement Method Safe Harbor
"The ACA does not carve out an exception for retirees who return to work. They are considered employees and, if they meet the definition of 'full time' under the ACA's employer mandate, they could potentially trigger a penalty to an employer. However, in order for a full-time employee to trigger a penalty, that employee must purchase coverage through [an exchange] and receive a government subsidy. If a retiree is eligible for Medicare, he or she will not qualify for a subsidy and therefore will not trigger a penalty."
(Liebert Cassidy Whitmore)
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EEOC Sick Over Wellness Programs
"The facts of this case are unusual since the employee's termination rather than the employer's wellness plan design, appears to be the likely force behind the EEOC's complaint. Further, the amount of the reward under the employer's program (100% of employee premiums), although arguably permitted under the HIPAA rules, is not typical of the modest incentives offered under most employer's wellness programs. Accordingly, it seems unlikely that this case represents the EEOC's opening salvo in a war against all reasonably designed wellness programs."
(Mazursky Constantine, LLC)
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Administration's New Contraception Rules Explained
"The regulations unveiled [on August 22] would allow religiously affiliated employers to notify the government -- rather than their insurer -- of their objections to the law's coverage of birth control. The government will then notify the insurer to provide the contraception coverage. A second rule suggests the administration will allow the same mechanism for some businesses that object to contraception on religious grounds but seeks public comment on how to identify businesses to be included."
(Kaiser Health News)
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Strategies for Continuous (and Intermittent) Medical Leaves
"While the logistics of employee schedules can be difficult, it can be even more burdensome (and more important) to handle the employee's medical leave appropriately and in accordance with the law.... This article discusses some of the strategies and principles that employers can use when medical leave issues arise."
(Fisher & Phillips LLP)
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ERISA at 40: ERISA, COBRA and the ACA (PDF)
"With the marketplace still a relatively new and unfamiliar option, Congressional action to repeal or modify COBRA is unlikely in the near future. Additionally, the fact that marketplace coverage is available only on a prospective (i.e., first of the month following plan selection) basis secures the present status of COBRA as a critical tool for avoiding coverage gaps. That said, if marketplace special enrollment rules allow an individual to enroll in coverage effective retroactive to the date of the loss of job-based coverage, marketplace coverage could obviate the need for COBRA coverage -- at least from a timing perspective."
(Buck Consultants at Xerox)
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Targeting Self-Insured Populations
"Delivering value is paramount to any healthcare executive who is fighting for his or her organization's place in the industry going forward. But the devil is in the details, and how you get there is dependent on a wide variety of factors. Two organizations -- one that has already made the transition and one in the early stages of it -- show that any executive who is hanging on to what currently works in healthcare (still largely volume-based fee-for-service reimbursement) is in a very dangerous situation."
(HealthLeaders Media)
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How Effective Is Your Health Insurance Exchange Compliance Program? (PDF)
"CMS will likely be an aggressive enforcer on the [Federally Facilitated Marketplace]. Plans will need to understand CMS protocols, processes and data sources related to health insurance exchange compliance.... Medicare and Medicaid compliance programs present an appropriate model and 'starting point' for health insurance exchange compliance.... An effective health insurance exchange compliance program combines a strong infrastructure with a focus on key program areas specified by regulators... Key considerations for health plans implementing a health insurance exchange compliance program."
(Deloitte Center for Health Solutions)
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Pharmacy Benefit Plans and Consumer-Directed Accounts (PDF)
"Pharmacy benefit plan costs typically represent about 18% of employer-sponsored health benefit plan costs, compared with roughly 3% in the 1980s. Innovation in pharmacology and other important medical and technological advances are key drivers of the increase.... Employers must be informed when selecting a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and capitalize on today's 'buyer's market' for PBM services, in which virtually all financial and nonfinancial terms are negotiable. Pharmacy plan designs should enable employee cost sharing to keep pace with rising drug costs. The majority of employers have changed their plan designs over the past decade to help achieve this goal."
(Benefits Quarterly, published by the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists [ISCEBS])
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[Opinion]
The 125 Percent Solution: Fixing Variations in Healthcare Prices
"The federal Medicare program has in place a complete system of prices for every procedure and treatment. It's not perfect, but it is uniform across regions, with a cost-of-living adjustment that pays more in expensive cities and less in rural areas. If every patient and every insurance company always had the option of paying 125 percent of the Medicare price for any service, we would effectively cap the worst of the price spikes."
(Health Affairs Blog)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Insurers Pay More Tax on Executive Compensation Under Obamacare
"When Washington eliminated corporate tax deductions on health insurance executive compensation above $500,000 under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law in 2013, it generated more than $72 million in additional tax revenue for the U.S. government ... The report said that if all corporations were to be taxed this way, it would raise $50 billion more in revenue for the U.S. government."
(Reuters)
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Using Adjusted Financial Data in Incentive Plans (PDF)
"The only time these adjustments should be controversial or inappropriate would be if goals were set using one definition and results were measured using another (to the executive's benefit). Generally, however, adjusted definitions are approved by compensation committees at the beginning of the performance period. Goals are set and performance is measured based on this consistent definition and understanding. This article explores the reasons behind common adjustments and makes the case for their appropriate use."
(Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)
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Press Releases
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