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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
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[Official Guidance]
Text of CMS Guidance: Calculation of Member Months for the Cost-Sharing Reductions Reconciliation -- Simplified Methodology (PDF)
"A Qualified Health Plan issuer assessing whether enrollment meets the credibility threshold for the simplified methodology may count members who applied or tried to apply by March 31, 2014, but whose enrollment did not become effective until later because of technology challenges. This includes members whose applications were not processed until after March 31, 2014, postponing their start date until May, and members who received a special enrollment period because Exchange issues prevented them from filing an application by March 31, 2014."
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])
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[Guidance Overview]
New Massachusetts Parental Leave Law Extends Protections to Male Employees
"Effective April 7, 2015, the new law will replace the current Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act (MLA), which [had provided] only female employees with eight weeks of job-protected maternity leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Extending parental leave to male employees will require significant policy changes for Massachusetts employers with less than 50 employees, as they are not already covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which applies to both male and female employees."
(Fisher & Phillips LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
New Jersey Mandates Insurer Best Practices for Handling Data, Exceeding HIPAA Requirements
"New Jersey's new law applies to end-user systems and computerized records that [are] transmitted across public networks.... Under the law, personal information is defined to include an individual's first name or first initial and last name linked with a Social Security number, a driver's license or state identification card number, an address, or identifiable health information. Failing to comply with these standards is punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 for a first offense and $20,000 for a second or any subsequent offense. A violation can also bring cease and desist orders issued by the attorney general -- and damage payments to affected individuals."
(Healthcare Payer News)
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Coming Soon to a Workplace Near You: 'Wellness or Else'
"Among the two-thirds of large companies using such incentives to encourage participation, almost a quarter are imposing financial penalties on those who opt-out ... For some companies, however, just signing up for a wellness program isn't enough. They're linking financial incentives to specific goals such as losing weight, reducing cholesterol, or keeping blood glucose under control. The number of businesses imposing such outcomes-based wellness plans is expected to double this year to 46 percent[.]"
(Reuters)
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How Steven Brill's Perspective on Healthcare Costs Changed When He Became a Patient
"Writing in TIME last week, Steven Brill -- best known for his 2013 TIME cover story about the high cost of health care -- explains how his perspective on the industry changed after he underwent a $190,000 procedure to save his life.... Brill says that he stands by his past writings on the 'profiteer-dominated' U.S. health system, and he will continue to do research in the area. But he writes, 'now I also understand, firsthand, the meaning of what the caregivers who work in that system do every day ... and when it's your life or your child's life or your mother's life on the receiving end of those amazing things, there is no such thing as a runaway cost.' "
(The Advisory Board Company)
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2014 Industry Trends Among Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
"[T]he average total cost per employee in 2014 was $9,504, of which the average employer cost was $6,276 and average employee contribution, $3,228. Government (Public Administration) health insurance plans have the highest average cost per employee at $11,329 (17.5% higher than average), with the lowest employee contribution of $2,040, which is 45% less than the average employee. Surprisingly, this already low contribution is an astounding 39.7% lower than two years ago when public employees contributed $3,051."
(United Benefit Advisors)
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Startup Health Insurance CO-OP Collapses In Iowa
"CoOportunity Health was the second largest co-op in the country in terms of membership, and one of the largest in terms of the federal funding it received.... The largest insurer by far in the state was and still is Wellmark. But Wellmark decided not to offer any plans on Iowa's health exchange, leaving just CoOportunity and one other insurer -- Coventry -- offering plans on the exchange throughout the state.... Not only were the patients sicker, but CoOportunity's leaders initially thought they would enroll about 12,000 people in Iowa and Nebraska. They got about ten times that[.]"
(National Public Radio)
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Three Predictions for Private Exchanges: Version 2015
"The consumer learning curve will spike upward.... Employers and brokers will graduate from 'Private Exchange School' and start to deploy.... Benefits shopping technology will trailblaze, especially for self-funded plans."
(The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism [IHCC])
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Proposal for Paid Sick Leave for Home Health Workers Returns to California Legislature
"[The proposal] would revise the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to include the state's estimated 400,000 home health care workers, giving them a minimum of three days of paid sick leave annually if they work 30 or more calendar days in a year.... [T]his makes it the fifth time the issue has been debated in the state Legislature."
(Kitsap Sun)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Employers Can Be Liable for FICA Withholding Errors
"The class action suit against Henkel Corporation was filed in 2012 by a former employee who claimed harm because his deferred compensation benefit vested on his retirement, but the employer failed to withhold and pay the FICA taxes at that time. Once the employer realized its error, the employer then withheld FICA taxes from each benefit payment as it was made and also paid the missed FICA taxes, reimbursing itself by reducing the deferred compensation payments to the employee.... [T]he court ruled that the employer was liable to the former employees for damages resulting from the withholding error. The court must still determine the amount of those damages -- and attorneys' fees incurred by the former employees in prosecuting the lawsuit." [Davidson v.
Henkel Corp., No. 12-cv-14103 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 6, 2015)]
(Stinson Leonard Street)
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Press Releases
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