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Leaves of Absence and Employee Benefits Compliance: Legal Rules and Compliance Traps
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Effective Use of the Coverage Testing Rules — Who's In and Who's Out?
February 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

HIPAA Compliance in a Hazardous World: Checkup for Employer Plan Sponsors and Business Associates
March 5, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Smart Ways To Advise Your Clients Regarding How Social Security Fits Into Retirement Planning
March 17, 2015 WEBCAST
(ThinkAdvisor)

Retirement Income Summit
May 4, 2015 in IL
(InvestmentNews)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Final Instructions to IRS Forms 1094-C and 1095-C Include Changes
"The final 1094-C and 1095-C instructions are approximately the same length as the draft (14 pages), but are in a smaller type font and thus longer. The final instructions contain a number (about two dozen) of additions, most of which are technical or clarifying. There are also a few deletions, while a few other provisions have been moved around." (Timothy Jost, in Health Affairs)  

[Advert.]

WHCC HR/Benefits Employer Summit – Mar 22-25 2015 – Washington DC

This annual meeting convenes executives involved in managing employee health, benefits, incentives, and rewards whose primary focus is to provide quality care at reduced cost and achieve total well-being.

Fourth Circuit Decides Formal Denial of Benefits Unnecessary for Accrual of ERISA Benefits Claim
"One of the frequently litigated issues in claims for benefit cases is the matter of when the case must be filed. The issue sounds simple enough but the case law suggests otherwise." [Curry v. Trustmark Ins. Co., No. 13-1995 (4th Cir. Feb. 6, 2015) (unpublished)] (Health Plan Law)  

Ordinary Contract Principles Determine Whether Retiree Health Benefits Survive Expired Bargaining Agreement
"[E]mployers and counsel must be cautious and precise in negotiating and drafting provisions relating to retiree benefits. In the best case, express language that retiree benefits do not survive term expiration should be included. If express language outlining the intent of the parties is not possible for some reason, the intent of the parties should be made clear during the negotiations resulting in the agreement. This can be accomplished through contract proposals or oral statements made during negotiation sessions, and, consistent with best practices, by detailed, contemporaneous notes of the negotiations." [M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, No. 13-1010 (U.S. Jan. 26, 2015)] (Jackson Lewis P.C.)  

Notices of Employee Eligibility for Exchange Subsidies: What They Are, and What You Should Do About Them (PDF)
"[T]he Exchange Notices are a part of the Exchanges' verification process regarding eligibility for subsidies.... If an employee is determined eligible for Exchange subsidies, the employer appeal is the opportunity for an employer to correct information about employer-sponsored coverage offered to the employee ... The potential benefits of filing an appeal are two-fold: it can minimize the employee's potential liability to repay Exchange subsidies that he or she was not eligible to receive and can help protect the employer from being incorrectly assessed an excise tax under Code Section 4980H ... Each State Exchange may create its own appeal process or choose not to establish an appeal process and have the HHS conduct the appeal in accordance with the Federal Exchange appeal process." (Alston & Bird LLP)  

Five Years into Health Care Reform: A Quick Look at What's Still on the Horizon
"[The authors] catalog some of the ACA issues that, five years after the law's adoption, are still on the horizon for employers.... Information reporting (Code Sections 6055 and 6056) ... Nondiscrimination (PHSA Section 2716; Code Section 9815) ... Cadillac plan tax (Code Section 4980I) ... Large plan automatic enrollment (FLSA Section 18A) ... Final minimum value regulations (Code Section 36B)." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  

[Advert.]

Looking to Connect with other EB Professionals? Start a New WEB Chapter!

Are you are a leader in employee benefits? Interested in developing qualifications of others in the field, while enhancing your own credentials? Contact us about joining a team of like-minded professionals to start a new WEB chapter in your geographic area.

2014 Year-End HSA Research Report
"HSA accounts rose to 13.8 million, holding over $24 billion, a year over year increase of 25% for HSA assets and 29% for accounts for the period of December 31st, 2013 to December 31st, 2014.... HSA investment assets reached an estimated $3.2 billion in December, up 40% year over year. The average investment account holder has a $12,995 average total balance (deposit and investment account)." (Devenir)  

Upcoming Bill Would Make Transit Parity Permanent
"A bill to restore parity between mass transit and qualified parking benefits will be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.... The limits, dictated by tax Code Section 132, have been unequal since that part of the tax Code was written, although Congress several times has equalized them for temporary periods. The last temporary equalization expired Dec. 31, 2014." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Testimony for Senate HELP Committee Hearing on 'Employer Wellness Programs: Better Health Outcomes and Lower Costs' (PDF)
"EEOC's actions in the Honeywell case are in direct conflict with the joint regulations passed by three White House Cabinet officials and are, at best, inconsistent with a clear White House policy favoring wellness plans.... Despite their popularity among employers and employees, employer wellness programs are now in a state of limbo. Employers whose programs are compliant with HIPAA and ACA cannot be sure that they will not be sued by the EEOC ... [L]egislation is needed to clarify that wellness programs which comply with HIPAA and ACA regulations do not violate the ADA." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)  

Value-Based Benefit Design and Select Rx Utilization Controls Waned in 2014
"10 years of PBMI data show that, yes, there are higher tiers and copayments for specialty drugs, but cost sharing for these stratospherically expensive drugs has actually dropped, probably because their introduction and subsequent cost inflation has occurred so fast that insurance plans can't keep up with it. Even more surprising, value-based pharmacy benefit design was actually being used less in 2014 than in previous years. More than half (53 percent) of the respondents reported using none of the evidence-based tactics listed in the survey, compared with 43 percent in 2011.... These rather surprising trends away from value-based benefit design probably don't mean that employers are slacking off on encouraging wellness to cut insurance costs. Instead, employers may be finding more effective ways of influencing employees' health choices." (HealthLeaders InterStudy)  

The Charts That Drugmakers Don't Want You to See
"In just over a year, prescription drug spending has outpaced spending in every health care sector. Why are patients paying more for health care? ... It's the drug prices, which jumped more than 6 percent in the last year." (America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP])  

Health Care Spending to Drop by 35 Percent in Affected States If Lawsuit Challenging ACA Subsidies Succeeds
"If King v. Burwell is decided in favor of the plaintiff, additional coverage resulting from the ACA's premium tax credits would be reversed, and some of those purchasing nongroup insurance fully with their own funds would become uninsured due to large increases in premiums. Consequently, spending on medical care would decline in the affected states. This analysis estimates the effect of such a change on hospital, physician, prescription drug and all other spending, noting how much of the continued spending would be self-paid by the uninsured and how much would rely upon historic rates of uncompensated care funding persisting." (Urban Institute)  

Kentucky Health Issues Poll Shows Increased Employer-Provided Coverage
"50 percent of respondents reported being insured through their employer or their spouse's employer. In 2012, only 37 percent of respondents had such coverage.... 12 percent of respondents said they were uninsured. In 2013, by comparison, 33 percent reported being uninsured." (Louisville Business First)  

[Opinion]

It's Past Time to End the Employer Mandate
"By forcing people to purchase insurance and imposing an increasingly binding tax on 'high dollar' benefits, the ACA limits the main benefits of [employer-sponsored health plans]. However, it then includes a counter-productive mandate that forces employers to offer benefits and distorts the number of hours that employees work. Rather than lecturing CEOs that are acting in the fiduciary interest of their shareholders, the President should show the courage to end the employer mandate." (David Dranove and Craig Garthwaite, in The Health Care Blog)  

[Opinion]

Administration Should Tell Obamacare Applicants About Risk of Losing Subsidies
"A privately owned corporation is obliged to disclose the risks of pending litigation to interested parties. Apparently, this constraint does not apply to the federal government. Indeed, Team Obama is cheering the fact that millions of people are bailing into Obamacare exchanges, putting their health coverage at risk, and pretending that everything is going swimmingly." (National Center for Policy Analysis Health Policy Blog)  

Obama Administration Budget Proposals Could Affect Employee Benefits
Article discusses 15 proposals, including: [1] Revisions to tax credit to qualified small employers for non-elective contributions to health insurance; [2] Automatic enrollment in IRAs (including small employer tax credit), increase tax credit for small employer plan start-up costs, and provide additional tax credit for small employer plans newly offering auto-enrollment; [3] Require retirement plans to allow long-term part-time workers to participate; [4] allow all inherited plan and IRA balances to be rolled over within 60 days; [5] Require non-spouse beneficiaries of deceased IRA owners and retirement plan participants to take inherited distributions over no more than five years; and [6] Require form W-2 reporting for employer contributions to defined contribution plans. (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)