Senior Employee Benefits Account Manager
Johnson & Dugan
in CA

Consulting Support Specialist
Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA

Experienced Pension Administrator
KB Pension Services, Inc.
in FL

Account Manager
Benefit Administration, Inc.
in WI

Retirement Services Consultant
Insperity
in TX

Implementation Specialist
Nova 401(k) Associates
in ANY STATE

Account Executive Director
Principal Financial Group
in MA

Plan Administrator
The Newport Group
in CA, FL, TX, VA

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How Telehealth Is Reshaping Care Delivery
RECORDED
(National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation)

Retirement Plans -- Today and Looking Forward
July 23, 2015 in GA
(Fidelity Investments)

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[Guidance Overview]

DOL Releases New FMLA Forms
"The DOL has eliminated its model FMLA leave request form. This is because FMLA does not require employees to use a written form to request FMLA leave. For foreseeable leave, an employee need only provide a verbal notice that makes the employer aware of the employee's need for FMLA-qualifying leave, and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. Similarly, for unforeseeable leave, an employee need only provide sufficient information to put the employer on notice that the leave might be FMLA-qualified leave." (The Wagner Law Group)  

[Advert.]

Well-Being Bootcamp for HR, Wellness & Benefits Professionals

Through case studies and presentations by forward-thinking employers and leaders, this HRCI accredited meeting delivers a fresh look at the evolution of wellness and building programs founded on reconciling business goals with employee health accountability.

Congressional Bills Would Mandate Equal Coverage for Pills and IV Cancer Therapy
"A bipartisan group of House and Senate legislators introduced bills last week that would require health plans to cover the growing number of oral chemotherapy pills as favorably as they do intravenous chemotherapy. But an insurance trade group says that as long as drugmakers continue to increase the prices of the oral drugs, parity legislation amounts to a 'shell game' that will push up everyone's premiums." (Kaiser Health News)  

Achieving High Performance with Onsite Health Centers
"Nearly four out of 10 respondents (38%) plan to add more centers, and two-thirds (66%) expect to expand health services by 2018. 75% of employers offering health centers have measured ROI, up significantly from 2012." (Towers Watson)  

How Paid Paternity Leave Pays Off
"Just 70 countries worldwide guarantee that fathers receive paid leave after the birth of their children. And ... the United States is not one of them.... [O]nly 15% of American companies currently offer paid paternity leave, and even those organizations tend to cap paternity leave at only three weeks ... More and more companies are beginning to offer paid paternity leave, touting its personal and professional benefits." (The Advisory Board Company)  

If Uber Drivers Are Employees, Company Faces Hard Choice on Healthcare
"Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the ACA has been 'huge' for his business, by creating a stable individual insurance market and helping entrepreneurial-minded individuals quit their jobs to become part-time drivers. But now Uber may face the other side of the Affordable Care Act: Its requirement that companies pay for full-time workers' health insurance, or pay a penalty." (Forbes)  

Budgetary and Economic Effects of Repealing the ACA (PDF)
"An end to the ACA's subsidies for health insurance coverage would generate gross savings for the government of [$1.658 trillion] over the 2016-2025 period ... Those gross savings would be partially offset by the effects of eliminating several ACA provisions ... including the provisions that impose penalties on some employers and uninsured people and that impose an excise tax on certain high-premium insurance plans.... CBO and JCT estimate that repealing the ACA would raise federal deficits by $137 billion over the 2016-2025 period ... A repeal would reduce deficits during the first half of the decade but would increase them by steadily rising amounts from 2021 through 2025.... Over the longer term, there is particular uncertainty about the ways that providers of health care will respond to the ACA's reductions in the updates to Medicare's payment rates and about whether repealing the ACA would weaken pressures for cost control that may have contributed to a broad slowdown in spending growth for health care.... [It] is possible that repealing the ACA could reduce deficits over that period or could increase them by substantially more than the agencies have estimated." (Congressional Budget Office [CBO])  

CMS Unable to Verify Legitimacy of Four Months Worth of Subsidy Payments
"The [HHS Inspector General's] report found that CMS's lax (and in some cases, non-existent) approach to verifying the accuracy and legitimacy of subsidy payments to insurers put $2.8 billion of taxpayer-provided funds at risk over just a four-month period beginning in January 2014. Assuming CMS's troubles continued through the same period this year, the agency is basically unable to verify the legitimacy of more than $11 billion in subsidy payments to insurers.... Employer and insurer reporting of health plan enrollments, and employer reporting of coverage offers to full-time employees and dependents, commence early next year... But even then, the IRS will merely be in the position to try to chase down the illegitimate subsidy recipients...the front door to those subsidies remains largely unlocked and unattended." (Lockton)  

Pioneer ACOs: Anatomy of a 'Victory'
"[T]he top eight performers saved Medicare $295 million, 78 percent of the consultant report's claimed savings! ... [T]wo of the ten participants ... generated almost 70 percent of the savings.... But look at what CMS paid out in performance bonuses to their biggest Pioneer savers: $295 million in savings generated only $31.4 million in bonus payments." (Health Affairs)  

Action Items for Implementing California's Paid Sick Leave Law
"Make sure you track amounts of PSL used and accrued AND display it on employee pay stubs.... Harmonize PSL and unlimited vacation policies.... Extend PSL to apply to part-time and temporary employees.... Update sick leave policies that require documentation or physician notes.... Specify minimum use increments.... Account for employees with varying schedules and varying hourly rates.... Comply with local sick leave ordinances." (DLA Piper)  

[Opinion]

ERIC Comments to EEOC on Proposed Wellness Regs
"ERIC suggests that the Commission incorporate the following ... modifications into the final rules: [1] Eliminate incentive limitations on wellness programs that qualify for an exemption from such limitations as 'participatory' programs' ... [2] Eliminate new notice requirements for wellness programs that are provided as part of group health plans ... [3] Eliminate the language in the proposed regulation that would prohibit the use of 'gateway' plan designs ... [4] Adopt an effective date no sooner than January 1, 2017 ... In addition, ERIC has identified ... four further compliance obstacles that were not included in the proposed regulations[.]" (The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC])  

Text of Sixth Circuit Opinion: Misleading SPD Which Conflicts with Terms of Plan Document Can Be Grounds for Equitable Relief (PDF)
"[We] think it is notable that inclusion of a single sentence, the exclusion clause (which is already required by 29 U.S.C. Section 1022(b)), would have easily prevented this misunderstanding from arising.... At bottom, 'You don't have to be an active employee' does not equate to 'You must be an employee.' The district court erred in concluding that a participant ... who read the SPD would understand that he must be an employee to qualify for 30-and-Out benefits. This material conflict between the Pension Plan and the SPD permits Pearce to seek equitable relief under ERISA Section 502(a)(3)." [Pearce v. Chrysler Group, LLC Pension Plan, No. 13-2374 (6th Cir. June 18, 2015; unpub.)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)  

Do You 'Work For' Uber?
"There may, perhaps, have to be evolutionary movement in the case law that will allow the legal structure to incorporate these types of sharing economy worker bees into the system somewhere in a middle ground, and there may have to likewise be a similar movement in statutory provisions that control access to and administration of 401(k) plans, disability benefits and the like for these purposes.... Would we, and the workers of the sharing economy, be better served if state legislatures and Congress tackled the problem of their job classification and their rights under employment law in the type of thoughtful way that created ERISA forty years ago[?]" (Stephen Rosenberg, The Wagner Law Group)  

Steve Puckett of SBS Makes Top 100 Retirement Plan Adviser List
Strategic Benefit Services

Health Care Service Corporation Awarded The National Business Group on Health’s Highest Honor in the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles Awards Program
Health Care Service Corporation

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