401(k) Administrator
AFC Pensions, Inc.
in MA

Client Relationship Manager
General Board of Pension and Health Benefits
in IL

Retirement Manager
Growing Company
in FL

Operations Manager 3
Wells Fargo
in NC

Employee Benefits Coordinator
Fox Entertainment Group
in CA

Sr. Technical Consultant
Lincoln Financial Group
in ANY STATE

Retirement Fulfillment Operations Manager
University of California Office of the President
in CA

401(k) Plan Administrator
Niles Lankford Group
in IN, OH

Investment Analyst - Retirement Plan Operations
T. Rowe Price
in MD

Client Administration Manager
T. Rowe Price
in CO

Vested Interest Document Coordinator
PNC
in PA

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Plan Qualification and Document Language Basics
RECORDED
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Retirement Plan Basics
RECORDED
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

ERISA 40th Anniversary Symposium - Part 1
RECORDED
(Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor)

ERISA 40th Anniversary Symposium - Part 2
RECORDED
(Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor)

ERISA: Practical Approaches to Lost Participant Problems
November 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

ERISA: Anti-cutback Workarounds in Restatements
November 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

2015 Enrolled Actuaries Meeting
April 12, 2015 in WA
(Conference of Consulting Actuaries)

2015 Retirement Industry Conference
April 15, 2015 in VA
(LIMRA)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

Text of CCIIO Guidance for Issuers on the Termination of a Consumer's Enrollment in the FFM Due to Death (PDF)
"The termination of an enrollee's coverage due to death may be reported by the application filer or anyone in the household of the deceased enrollee who was included in the initial application for Marketplace coverage and who is at least 18 years old .... The Marketplace Call Center will attempt to contact the individual who submits documentation of death regarding the termination of the deceased and re-enrollment of any remaining enrollment group members. The remaining qualified individuals or enrollees may need to update tax filing status, financial information, or other information on their FFM application. These additional changes may qualify the remaining enrollees for a special enrollment[.]" (Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight [CCIIO], Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

[Advert.]

Ready for Nov. 5 deadline to get unique health plan identifiers?

Mercer Select members are! With a user-friendly website and daily emails, Mercer Select members stay informed about the ACA and other key benefit, comp and HR issues. Sign up for a free demo or guest membership.

Monitoring the Impact of the ACA on Employers
"In this report, [the authors] analyze recent trends in the employer health insurance market and the anticipated effects of the [ACA] on employers, with a particular focus on small firms with fewer than 50 workers. [They] first present a detailed picture of the employer market by identifying preexisting trends in key outcomes that could be incorrectly attributed to the [ACA]. [They] also analyze the literature to identify economic factors that are important in current employer and employee decisions regarding health coverage." (Urban Institute)  

Employers Will Need to Pull Multiple Levers to Avoid ACA's Excise Tax on High-Cost Plans
"Nearly half of U.S. employers with 5,000 employees or more expect to trigger the ACA tax in 2018 and 82 percent by 2023 ... Levers that employers can pull to protect themselves from the excise tax include wellness strategies targeted in areas that are driving plan costs; delivering medical services to patients by interactive audio, video and other technology; and changing the ways that employers pay for benefits[.]" (Bloomberg BNA)  

Court Declines to Recognize Equitable Surcharge Remedy in Payment Dispute Between Providers and Insurer
"[M]any cases seeking equitable surcharge involve participant claims of fiduciary breach based on an otherwise unenforceable misrepresentation or misstatement. Here, the providers were damaged, from an ERISA perspective, only to the extent of the monetary amounts the insurer had improperly recovered from them -- an injury easily remedied by repayment with interest. One also wonders whether, even with a misrepresentation claim, a provider would be as likely to prevail on an equitable surcharge claim as a participant or beneficiary." [Pennsylvania Chiropractic Assoc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Assoc., No. 09-C-5619 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 19, 2014)] (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Online Enrollment in SHOP Exchange Available for 2015
"This bulletin marks an important change for 2015. Small employers who enrolled in the SHOP with paper applications (including those who worked with an agent or broker) were permitted to claim a small business health care tax credit for 2014. But with that relief expiring, employers will need to enroll online, either on their own or with agent/broker assistance, in order to qualify for the tax credit for 2015 (other requirements must also be met). Participation in the SHOP is voluntary, but it is the only means for obtaining the tax credit." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

[Advert.]

Wellness Programs: Navigating the Applicable Federal and State Laws

October 30 webinar.This live webinar reviews new HIPAA nondiscrimination regulations, other regulatory developments, case law, and other developments, and requirements of wellness programs. BenefitsLink discount.

Study Shows Employer Perceptions of Defined Contribution Health Plans and Private Insurance Exchanges (PDF)
1-page infographic providing results of a July 2103 survey of 502 employers of 60 or more employees. "90% [of the employers are] interested in exploring defined contribution. 85% [are] interested in exploring private exchanges." (AlegeusTechnologies)  

As Insurers Try to Limit Costs, Providers Hit Patients With More Separate Fees
"Ophthalmologists are increasingly levying separate 'refraction fees' to assess vision acuity. Orthopedic clinics impose fees to put an arm in a cast or provide a splint, in addition to the usual bill for the office visit. On maternity wards, new mothers pay for a lactation consultant.... The Affordable Care Act gives guidance on what kinds of exams must be covered at no cost as preventive services. But Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry group, said, 'If a provider chooses to do something beyond what's covered, there may be charges.'" (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Choosing a Health Plan Is Hard, Even for a Health Economist
"Already, the lack of price transparency is enough to make a health economist despair. But it gets worse. Some aspects of plan quality are available to most consumers, like consumers' ratings of customer service and how well doctors in each plan communicate with their patients. But a crucial feature of health plans is not as easily or widely accessible: the extent to which each covers services provided by one's favorite doctors and hospitals." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Is the Affordable Care Act Working?
"After a year fully in place, the [ACA] has largely succeeded in delivering on President Obama's main promises, an analysis by a team of reporters and data researchers shows. But it has also fallen short in some ways and given rise to a powerful conservative backlash.... Has the percentage of uninsured people been reduced? ... Has insurance under the law been affordable? ... Did the Affordable Care Act improve health outcomes? ... Will the online exchanges work better this year than last? ... Has the health care industry been helped or hurt by the law? ... How has the expansion of Medicaid fared? ... Has the law contributed to a slowdown in health care spending?" (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Assessing Alternative Modifications to the ACA: Impact on Individual Market Premiums and Insurance Coverage
"In this report, the authors use the COMPARE microsimulation model, an analytic tool that uses economic theory and data to predict the effects of health policy reforms, to estimate how eliminating the ACA's individual mandate, eliminating the law's tax credits, and combined scenarios that change these and other provisions of the act might affect 2015 individual market premiums and overall insurance coverage." (RAND Corporation)  

Income Variability and Eligibility for ACA Subsidies
"Incomes are highly variable within any one year, particularly at the lower end of the income-distribution spectrum. The extent of income changes was sufficient to trigger changes in subsidy eligibility for up to a third of all adults eligible for Medicaid or subsidized coverage. Shifts in employment, such as losing or getting a job, changing employers, or switching to part time, were key to income volatility. Even without periods of unemployment, they were associated with income changes both up and down." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)  

Sixth Circuit Declines Deference to DOL and Enforces Venue Selection Clause
"Ultimately, the majority found that the DOL's 'amicus brief in this case can only be characterized as . . . an expression of mood.' The majority then (i) noted that most courts faced with this issue found that venue selection clauses in ERISA-governed plans were enforceable and (ii) explained that if Congress wanted to prohibit such clauses, it could have done so. Further, the majority stated that '[i]t is illogical to say that, under ERISA, a plan may preclude venue in federal court entirely [via an arbitration clause], but a plan may not channel venue to one particular federal court.'" [Smith v. Aegon Companies Pension Plan, No.13-5492 (6th Cir. Oct. 14, 2014)] (Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)  

Sixth Circuit 'Unfriends' DOL: No 'Regulation by Amicus' for ERISA Venue Selection Clauses
"[T]he Sixth Circuit noted that the 'Secretary of Labor has been particularly aggressive in attempting to mold statutory interpretation and establish policy' by filing amicus briefs in private litigation. The court also noted that that the DOL had never before advanced its stated view on venue selection clauses through an enforcement action, regulation, or opinion letter. The DOL had voiced this opinion only once before -- in an amicus brief in a sister circuit." [Smith v. Aegon Companies Pension Plan, No.13-5492 (6th Cir. Oct. 14, 2014)] (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)  

David Rhett Baker, Founder and Co-owner of BenefitsLink, Inducted as Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.

ASPPA Inaugurates Kyla Keck as 46th President
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

ASPPA Presents Sheldon H. Smith with Prestigious Eidson Award
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

ASPPA Honors Cynthia A. Groszkiewicz with ACOPA’s Burrows Achievement Award
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

ASPPA Honors Two Top-Performing Exam Candidates with Martin Rosenberg Academic Achievement Award
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

ASPPA Welcomes Ilene H. Ferenczy to Board of Directors
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

Brian Haynes Inducted as a Fellow of The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC

Institutional Retirement Income Council Applauds Guidance Allowing Use of Annuities in 401(k) Plans
Institutional Retirement Income Council

PBGC to Pay Benefits at White Rose Inc.
PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation]

View All Press Releases

New Online Features will allow Employers to Renew or Change SHOP Coverage Online
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS]

The Pension Inspector Adds Free Multi Year Employer Filed Form 5500 with Attachments For Free Members
AtPrime Media, Inc.