Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter

December 3, 2014

BenefitsLink.com logo EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com logo LinkedIn logo Twitter logo Facebook logo
Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Previous Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

DB and DC Administrator
Actuarial Consulting Services
in NJ

Pension Administrator
Alliance Pension Consultants, LLC
in IL

Pension Administrator
GF Pension Corp.
in PA

Plan Administrator
California Retirement Plans
in CA

DC/401(k) Plan Administrator
Peery & Associates, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Retirement Product Manager
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

Account Manager
Garnett-Powers & Associates, Inc.
in CA

Pension Director
1199SEIU Family of Funds
in NY

Account Manager
American Trust & Savings Bank
in IA

Compliance Coordinator / Senior Plan Administrator
Scholz, Klein & Friends Enlightened Retirement Group, Inc.
in TX

Retirement Consultant
NFP Retirement
in MA

Institutional Services Client Consultant
Fifth Third Bank
in IN

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS feed for jobs RSS Feed: All Jobs


Webcasts and Conferences

After-tax Contributions: the untold story
December 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

IRA Reporting – Compliance
December 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

SHOP Marketplace Series
January 6, 2015 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS])

457(b) Plans for 401(k) Practitioners
January 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

SHOP Marketplace Series
January 13, 2015 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS])

Governmental Pension Reporting — The New Standards
January 14, 2015 WEBCAST
(Accounting Continuing Professional Education Network [ACPEN])

Earned Income - A Practical Approach
January 14, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Defined Benefit Plans for DC Practitioners [A Two-Part Event]
January 20, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences



[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Guidance on Transportation Fringe Benefits
"[Rev. Rul. 2014-32] allows terminal-restricted debit cards that can be used at vendors that sell items in addition to transit fare media as long as the card issuer adds modifications so that the card only works for the purchase of transit fare media. Media bought online with such a card may include a delivery charge that would qualify for the exclusion. The ruling also provides that a transit company smart card that includes separate accounts for transit, for non-transit (such as parking), and for both can qualify if the employer buys the card and allocates all of the funds to the transit account, but not if the employee buys the transit card with a debit card provided by the employer." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  


[Advert.]

25% Off All E-Learning Courses in December!

Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]

Save 25% on all e-learning courses from the International Foundation. Choose from more than 30 courses on topics of health care, retirement and human resources. Buy them today and use them to train yourself and your team in 2015 — Save Today!



[Guidance Overview]

California Imposes Mandatory Sick Leave Law
"California's sick leave law requires mandatory paid sick leave accrual measured from July 1, 2015, forward; however, the notice, posting and other requirements are effective as of January 1, 2015. Because this deadline is fast approaching, employers with employees working in California should carefully review their sick and PTO policies, as well as payroll policies for reporting such time on wage statements. Every employer also should review its new-hire procedures and notices, and workplace posting and recordkeeping policies, because California's sick leave law affects each of these items." (McDermott Will & Emery)  

2015 Planning for Health & Welfare Benefit Plan Operations (PDF)
Topics include: [1] Preparing for ACA reporting; [2] Cafeteria plan amendments; [3] 2015 out-of-pocket maximum limits; [4] Wellness programs issues; [5] Waiting and orientation periods; [6] HPID requirement delayed; and [7]Calendar of health and welfare benefit plan compliance tasks. (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

Some Tips on ACA Compliance as January 1, 2015 Approaches
"If you are between 50 and 99 FTEs, you might be eligible for transition relief, but it is not automatic.... To determine whether or not you are an applicable large employer, you have to look at the controlled group, not the individual company.... Employers cannot satisfy the obligation to offer coverage to employee by reimbursing them for premiums paid through the exchange.... To avoid a payment for failing to offer health coverage, large employers (that's more than 100 in 2015) need to offer coverage to 70 percent of their full-time employees in 2015. The 95% rule goes into effect in 2016." (Fox Rothschild LLP)  

HHS Proposal Places Greater Emphasis on Summary of Benefits and Coverage
"For payers participating in the public marketplace, [CMS] is proposing to ... require individual payers to provide an SBC for 'plan variations,' which essentially are reduced cost-sharing options for essential health benefits, as part of the Qualified Health Plan (QHP) process.... [T]here have been rumblings that HHS, DOL and IRS are considering adding coverage examples beyond diabetes and child birth.... In addition, after three years of minimal change, there's a possibility that the SBC format could change for the 2016 plan year." (HighRoads)  


[Advert.]

24th Annual National Health Benefits Conference & Expo (HBCE)

Sponsored by HBCE

Plan now to attend the National Health Benefits Conference & Expo, January 27-28 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. The conference provides cutting-edge case studies and advanced cost control strategies presented by national thought leaders. Register Now!



Strategies Being Used by Local Governments to Address Rising Health Care Costs
"The top cost drivers of local government health care increases were increased claim costs (64 percent); prescription drugs (57 percent); an aging workforce (46 percent); insurance company price increases (45 percent) and federal health care policy (45 percent). Fifty-seven percent of respondents increased cost sharing of premiums paid by employees ... Nineteen percent of those reporting health plan changes shifted employees to a high-deductible plan with a health savings account and 14 percent established a health reimbursement arrangement." (Center for State & Local Government Excellence)  

[Opinion]

The Coming End to the Health Insurance Business as We Know It -- and What Brokers Can Do About It
"[W]ithin 5-10 years employers will be out of the health risk business. [This article provides] a plan for what ... benefit brokers should do to prepare for this possible change in the market.... [T]he cost of the employee's health insurance will not be priced by employer. It won't be a function of average age of the employee population, claims experience, or any of the standard underwriting/pricing rules today. In fact, health insurance will most likely become an individually purchased product and the insurers of the future may not be the companies that dominate the market today. The players and the structure of the market will be vastly different." (Joe Markland)  

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Announcement 2014-34: Realignment of Technical Work Between the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division and Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities) (PDF)
"On January 2, 2015, the authority to prepare revenue rulings, revenue procedures, announcements, and notices, and to issue technical advice (including technical advice memoranda (TAMs)), certain letter rulings, and certain information letters on matters involving exempt organizations, qualified retirement plans, and IRAs will be shifted to TEGE Counsel. TEGE Counsel will be responsible for the issuance of letter rulings except for the letter rulings listed [in this announcement]. In addition, TEGE Counsel will be responsible for ruling on issues involving employer deductions for contributions to welfare benefit funds.... The Employee Plans office of TE/GE (Employee Plans) will retain the authority to issue determination letters and the Exempt Organizations office of TE/GE (Exempt Organizations) will retain the authority to issue determination letters, including determination letters on the exempt status of organizations under Sections 501(c) and 521." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

New Auditing Standard Will Require Auditors to Review Executive Compensation Arrangements
"[T]he new auditing standard requires the auditor to consider: [1] Obtaining an understanding of compensation arrangements with senior management other than executive officers, including incentive compensation arrangements, changes or adjustments to those arrangements, and special bonuses; [2] Inquiring of the chair of the compensation committee ... and any compensation consultants ... regarding the structuring of the company's compensation for executive officers; and [3] Obtaining an understanding of established policies and procedures regarding the authorization and approval of executive officer expense reimbursements." (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

Setting Annual Incentive Targets When Commodity Price Drops
"One of the hardest challenges for a Compensation Committee is to set annual incentive performance targets at levels that are lower than the prior year's actual performance. It is difficult to explain to shareholders when share price is dropping, how lower targets are appropriately challenging and why the executive team should be rewarded for lower performance. The need to retain key executives is generally not a sufficient answer." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

[Opinion]

PCAOB Expands Purview of Accounting Profession to Review Executive Compensation Arrangements
"[The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)] and the SEC are either assuming that auditors have sufficient expertise in compensation arrangements to handle this undertaking or that the firms of which they are a part have this expertise internally to which the auditors may refer. At the Big 4, this is probably the case. They have massive staffs and are able to engage specialists to handle such complex questions. How about the next tier of auditing firms? Do they have this expertise?" (Benefits and Compensation with John Lowell)  

[Opinion]

World's Dumbest Idea: The Push for 'Shareholder Value' Created Environment Where Executive Compensation Trumped All
"In the last two decades one can see the increasing dominance of stock-related pay. In the last decade some two-thirds of total CEO compensation has come through stock and options.... [O]ptions aren't the same thing as stock. They give executives all of the upside and none of the downside of equity ownership.... [I]ncentives don't always work in the way that one might expect ... [W]hen incentives get too high people tend to obsess about them directly, rather than on the task in hand that leads to the payout. Effectively, high incentives divert attention away from where it should be." (GMO LLC)  

Press Releases

401(k) Advisors Rebrands as NFP Retirement
National Financial Partners Corp. [NFP]

MCG Grows Its Benefits Consulting Team
Marsh Consulting Group [MCG]

Connect   LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

Additional useful links:

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
Phone (407) 644-4146
Fax (407) 644-2151

Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

Copyright 2014 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. — but feel free to forward this newsletter without further permission from us, if you do not modify the newsletter in any way (including this lower portion).

All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

Links to Web sites other than those owned by BenefitsLink.com, Inc. are offered as a service to readers. The editorial staff of BenefitsLink.com, Inc. was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

We are proud of our Privacy Policy.

Thanks for reading this newsletter!