Operations Manager - Investments/Retirement
Retirement Advisory Services Corp
in PA

Pension Administrator
Preferred Pension Planning Corporation
in NJ

401(k) Client Service Specialist
Trutina Financial
in WA

Retirement Plan Administrator
CBIZ
in CO

Retirement Planning Consultant-2
Transamerica
in MD

Administrator Assistant
The Nolan Company
in KS

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RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

HRA Compliance Drilldown: Health Care Reform, Code, and Other Rules
October 14, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Introduction to ERISA: An Overview
October 15, 2015 WEBCAST
(American Bar Association [ABA])

ERISA Workshop
October 15, 2015 in MN
(SunGard Relius)

Advanced Plan Design Workshop
October 16, 2015 in MN
(SunGard Relius)

IRA Contributions
November 3, 2015 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

Text of OPM Final Regs: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program 'Self Plus One' Enrollment Type
"[OPM] is issuing a final rule to amend the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program regulations to add an additional enrollment type called 'self plus one' for premium rating and family member eligibility purposes ... OPM is aware that creation of a new enrollment tier may create additional complexity. However, this complexity is limited because the rule only introduces a new enrollment type. Benefits design will not differ from other enrollment types offered within the same plan option, which minimizes the complexity introduced by the rule. To alleviate potential concerns about complexity during the introductory year, Section 892.207(d) has been amended in this final rule to include a one-time limited enrollment period to be held in early 2016." (U.S. Office of Personnel Management [OPM])  

[Advert.]

Set Yourself Apart From Your Peers With the CEBS Designation

Co-sponsored by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the CEBS designation gives you the knowledge and confidence to succeed in today's business environment. Learn More!

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Health Care Tax Tip 2015-56: Questions and Answers to Help Your Organization Understand ACA Reporting Requirements
"Is an ALE member that sponsors a self-insured health plan required to file Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C if the ALE member has no full-time employees?.... Is an employer that is not an ALE member required to file under the Affordable Care Act if the employer sponsors a self-insured health plan that provides minimum essential coverage? ... Is an ALE member required to report under the Affordable Care Act with respect to a full-time employee who is not offered coverage during the year?" (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

Health Coverage Tax Credit Reinstated for Trade-Displaced Workers and PBGC Payees
"The law reinstated the HCTC for workers who lost their jobs due to foreign competition and retirees receiving PBGC pension payments. It also increased the penalties for failing to meet ACA reporting requirements, specifically those used to enforce the individual and employer mandates. The HCTC could affect COBRA and retiree health plan elections by former employees who might otherwise have chosen coverage through the public exchanges." (Towers Watson)  

[Guidance Overview]

The One Way to Determine Applicable Large Employer Status for 2016 and Beyond
"The final regulations go into great detail about how an employer determines its ALE status. A simpler approach for employers involves two simple rules: [1] sum up the hours of service accumulated by an employer's workforce for the calendar month; and [2] never include more than 120 hours of service in any calendar month for an employee. Apply the two rules and divide the number by 120 to get an employer's ALE number for a calendar month. After an employer does this for all 12 calendar months in a calendar year sum up the total and divide by 12. If an employer's number is 50 or more, it is an ALE unless the seasonal worker exception applies." (Health Care Attorneys P.C.)  

October 14 Deadline for Medicare Part D Creditable/Non-Creditable Coverage Notices Nears (PDF)
"Group health plan sponsors that provide prescription drug coverage to Medicare Part D-eligible individuals must also disclose to the CMS annually whether the coverage is creditable or non-creditable.... Employers that provide prescription drug coverage through a Medicare Part D Employer Group Waiver Plan (EGWP) are not required to provide the creditable coverage notice to individuals eligible for the EGWP.... Because the notices advise plan participants whether their prescription drug coverage is credit able or non-creditable, no notice is required when prescription drug coverage is not offered." (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

[Advert.]

Changes to Cafeteria Plans: What You Need to Know to Prepare

September 22 -- This timely topic will help persons responsible for cafeteria plan administration and compliance understand the foundational requirements applicable to every cafeteria plan and inform them of how the landscape is rapidly changing. BenefitsLink discount.

Most Workers Continue to Give Low Ratings to Health Care System, But Declining Number Report Increases in Their Out-of-Pocket Health Care Cost (PDF)
10 pages. "In contrast to the ratings for the health care system overall, workers' ratings of their own health plans continue to be generally favorable. One-half of those with health insurance coverage are extremely or very satisfied. Only 9 percent are not satisfied with their current health plan. One-half of workers with health insurance coverage report having experienced an increase in health care costs in the past year, an historical low in the survey. The percentage reporting that they did not experience a change in health care costs increased from 36 percent to 47 percent between 2014 and 2015." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Small Changes by Employers Can Raise Workers' Share of Health Costs
"[W]orkers who get health coverage on the job may not see huge premium increases, significant hikes to deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses. But there may be other less obvious changes that could make a real difference in coverage or costs ... Employers are focusing more sharply on employee wellness. And some employers are raising the bar for workers to qualify for incentives ... Premium increases for dependents, especially spouses who have health insurance available through their own jobs, are likely to be higher next year than for employee-only coverage." (National Public Radio)  

TPA Faces State Law Health Data Privacy Charges
"A third-party administrator faces California health privacy and unfair business practices charges for allegedly handing over a plan participant's case management information to an employer, which then terminated her to avoid paying for her impending liver transplant. The TPA's arguments for ERISA preemption failed because the plan participant's state-law action could have been brought in the absence of an ERISA plan, the court held[.]" [Rose v. HealthComp, No. 1:15-cv-00619-SAB (E.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2015)] (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

HHS Sticks with Stricter Out-of-Pocket Health Care Spending Limit Requirement
"Federal regulators confirmed ... that they will not back off from an earlier 'clarification' of health care reform law rules that, starting next year, place new limits on how much in out-of-pocket expenses employers with high-deductible plans can require employees to pick up.... Several business groups earlier wrote to federal regulators that such an 'embedded' cost limit was not supported by the health care reform law. But in a letter sent [September 15] to those groups, federal regulators said they are sticking with the new requirement." (Business Insurance; free registration required)  

Seventh Circuit Finds That State Insurance Law Applies to ERISA Plan, Resulting in De Novo Review of Long-Term Disability Claim
"The Seventh Circuit ... found that the Illinois regulation applied to the claim at hand and was saved from ERISA preemption because that law was 'specifically directed toward entities engaged in insurance,' and 'the state law ... substantially affect[ed] the risk pooling arrangement between the insurer and the insured.' Part of the Seventh Circuit's rationale in denying preemption is that the Illinois law merely restores ERISA's default standard of de novo review in cases challenging benefit denials and that deferential review is not required by ERISA." [Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. 14-1984 (7th Cir. Sept. 4, 2015)] (McDermott Will & Emery)  

CBO Report: Eliminating the Individual Mandate and Associated Penalties Would Reduce Deficit by $3 Billion
"CBO and JCT have completed a preliminary estimate of the net budgetary effect of eliminating the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance and associated penalties established by the Affordable Care Act. We estimate that eliminating that requirement and the associated penalties would reduce the deficit by about $305 billion over the 2015-2025 period. That total consists of a $311 billion decrease in direct spending partially offset by a $6 billion decrease in revenues." (Congressional Budget Office [CBO])  

CBO Cost Estimate for H.R. 1624, the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act
"CBO and JCT expect that the SHOP exchanges will develop additional features, including allowing for employees to choose plans, that will enhance competition in the small group insurance market and lead to reduced premiums.... On net, CBO and JCT anticipate that premiums would be lower in most years, which would reduce the share of employees' compensation that is non-taxable and increase the share that is taxable. Those changes would increase federal revenues." (Congressional Budget Office [CBO])  

Association Health Plans and Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges under the ACA
"For years, groups of employers have joined together to form association health plans (AHPs) to provide employee benefits and thereby receive cheaper costs with less administrative overhead.... The Washington State Insurance Commissioner has twice tried to limit the use of AHPs in the state. Both times the Court has ruled against the Commissioner and in favor of the plans. AHPs provide better health insurance coverage with a smaller regulatory burden for employers than the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) which is part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Congress should amend the ACA, therefore, to allow small employers and their workers to make greater use of the benefits of AHPs." (Washington Policy Center)  

Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2014 (PDF)
"This report presents statistics on health insurance coverage in the United States in 2014 and also focuses on changes between 2013 and 2014.... The percentage of people without health insurance coverage decreased sharply between 2013 and 2014 by just under 3.0 percentage points, specifically, by 2.9 percentage points ... The CPS ASEC uninsured rate, which represents the percentage of the population who had no health insurance coverage during the entire year, changed from 13.3 percent in 2013 to 10.4 percent in 2014." (U.S. Census Bureau)  

Charging Older Adults Higher Premiums Could Cost Taxpayers
"Several recent proposals would allow insurers to charge older adults up to five times as much as younger adults (5-to-1 rate banding) ... [The authors] analyzed the effects of relaxing the ACA's rate bands from 3-to-1 to 5-to-1 while leaving other ACA provisions in place. [They] focused on marketplace plans and other ACA-compliant health plans in the individual market, and excluded plans offered by employers (which are regulated differently). We found that while more -- mostly younger -- people would become insured under 5-to-1 rate banding, federal health spending would increase and 400,000 older people, who tend to have more health problems, would lose coverage." (The Commonwealth Fund)  

Tough Going for Health CO-OPs
"[As] the new co-ops begin failing just a year into the effort to remake the health care industry with more competition and lower costs, the marketplace is proving hostile to newcomers trying to break into an industry dominated by powerfully entrenched businesses. Faced with these conditions, the federal government has promised to consider ways of helping them to get a firmer foothold, but some insurance experts doubt that government changes will be enough to prevent more failures." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

Policymakers Shouldn't Repeal Limit on Tax-Advantaged Health Accounts
"The limit on the use of FSAs and other tax-advantaged accounts remains a sound way to help pay for helping to extend health coverage to 25 million more Americans while lowering the deficit. Lawmakers should reject the proposal to repeal it." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)  

[Guidance Overview]

Form 5500 and Tax Return Filing Deadlines Changed by Highway Bill
"[T]he revised tax return deadlines do not apply to C corporations with fiscal years ending on June 30 until taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025 (however, the revised Form 5500 extension deadline does apply effective in 2016 to plans and corporations with June 30 year ends).... [A] calendar year C corporation that extends the due date of its corporate return (Form 1120) will receive an automatic extension of time to file the Form 5500 until October 15th. At a minimum, the automatic extension can help a plan sponsor or TPA that fails to timely file a Form 5558 extension request." (SunGard Relius)  

Should Student Debt Management Be Included in Benefit Packages?
"According to [a recent] study, 55% of respondents would rather use the money they are paying for health care to pay down their student loan balance, and 49% would prefer student loan contributions from employers to 401(k) contributions. To put that into perspective, if this survey is truly indicative of what people with student debt think -- approximately 40 million Americans -- that means that those who prefer student debt repayment over health care and retirement savings are approximately 22 and 19 million people, respectively." (Money Management Intelligence)  

Employees Want Custom Benefits Communication
"Those employees just starting their careers and those nearing retirement have distinct financial needs. Early entrants -- those in the first five years of their working lives -- want more choice and education delivered via the workplace. In contrast, near-retirees -- within five years of retirement -- value their benefits and worry about losing them in retirement." (PLANSPONSOR)  

2015 JCEB Q&As Offer Nonbinding IRS Responses on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Issues
"Topics addressed include ... [1] Tax-qualified retirement plans; [2] Employer mandate issues under the [ACA]; [3] Sections 162(m) and 409A of the Internal Revenue Code[.]" (Practical Law Company)  

NFP Acquires 401k Management Group and Campbells Administration
NFP Corp.

Fitbit Extends Corporate Wellness Offering with HIPAA Compliant Capabilities
Fitbit, Inc.

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