Specialist, Bundled Client Services
Nationwide
in OH

Retirement Plan Administrator
HowardSimon
in IL

Retirement Plan Administrator
Bronfman E.L. Rothschild
in MN, WI

Defined Benefit Consultant
Aon Corporation
in MD

Pension BA/QA
Enterprise Iron
in NY

Retirement Specialist
Retirement Clearinghouse
in NC

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

Easy Low-cost Ways to Start Your Small Business Retirement Plan
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

ASC 715 and OPEB Valuation
October 6, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Developments in Healthcare Reform
October 15, 2015 WEBCAST
(Corporate Synergies)

Large Buyout Activity Headed For Another Big Year
October 16, 2015 WEBCAST
(Mercer)

Employer Health Plans in the Time of Exchanges: Compliance, Administration, and Employee Communications Impacts
October 28, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Fiduciary Breach: Avoidance and Mitigation
October 28, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Advanced Plan Design Workshop
November 4, 2015 in NY
(SunGard Relius)

Advanced Plan Design Workshop
November 6, 2015 in OH
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

Text of CMS Announcement: Risk Corridors Payment Proration Rate for 2014 (PDF)
"Based on current data from QHP issuers' risk corridors submissions, issuers will pay $362 million in risk corridors charges, and have submitted for $2.87 billion in risk corridors payments for 2014. At this time, assuming full collections of risk corridors charges, this will result in a proration rate of 12.6 percent. HHS will begin collection of risk corridors charges in November, 2015, and will begin remitting risk corridors payments to issuers starting December, 2015." [Unnumbered document dated Oct. 1, 2015.] (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

[Advert.]

Telehealth & Remote Patient Monitoring Summit – Jan 27-28, 2016 – Atlanta

Incorporating Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring practices has been shown to increase access to care, improve outcomes, and decrease health delivery costs. Take $200 off registration -- promo code BLINK2 (not valid on Webcast or Government Rate).

[Official Guidance]

Text of CMS FAQ: Claims Run-Out Deadline for Cost-sharing Reduction Reconciliation (PDF)
"Claims incurred in the 2015 benefit year that were not able to be submitted in time for the April 30, 2016 deadline may be submitted in the following year reconciliation cycle, whether the reason for the non-submission was because they had not been paid in time or because the issuer was not able to reconcile the claim in time." [Unnumbered document dated Sept. 30, 2015.] (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

[Official Guidance]

Text of CMS Announcement: 2015 Contributions Submission Form Now Open (PDF)
"The '2015 ACA Transitional Reinsurance Program Annual Enrollment and Contributions Submission Form' (2015 Form) is now available[.] If you go directly to www.pay.gov, please search for '2015 ACA Transitional Reinsurance' to access the 2015 Form. All contributing entities must submit the 2015 Form and schedule reinsurance contribution payment(s) no later than Monday, November 16, 2015." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

[Guidance Overview]

Final Instructions on ACA Reporting Clarify Key Issues for Contributing Employers and Multiemployer Plans
"The final instructions resolve ambiguities about coding, and clarify that contributing employers do not need participant-specific information as long as the multiemployer plan coverage is affordable, minimum value, and provided to all dependents until the end of the month in which they turn 26." (Segal Consulting)  

Repeal of ACA Expansion for Small Groups Is Approved by Senate, Heads to President for Signature
"The Senate passed legislation on Thursday intended to protect small and midsize businesses from increases in health insurance premiums, clearing the bill for President Obama's expected signature.... The bill ... eliminates a provision of the law that would have imposed tough, potentially costly new requirements on businesses with 51 to 100 employees. A White House spokeswoman confirmed that Mr. Obama would sign the bill, but she declined to discuss its substance. Recent comments by administration officials suggested that they did not particularly like the legislation but could not stop the growing wave of bipartisan support for it." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Risk Corridor Claims by Insurers Far Exceed Contributions
"The imbalance between contributions and claims may be due to some extent to CMS's attempt to use the risk corridor program to assist insurers affected by the administration's transitional plan program [which] has allowed enrollees to remain in plans that do not comply with the 2014 market reforms until 2017. It is generally believed that healthier enrollees have remained in noncompliant coverage under the transition plan program, and that this has disadvantaged insurers offering ACA-compliant plans. The administration modified the parameters of the risk corridor program for 2014 to attempt to help insurers affected by this factor. This has increased the amount owed to insurers." (Timothy Jost in Health Affairs)  

ACA Reporting Requirements: Tips for 2016
"The ACA's reporting requirements apply to all employers with 50 or more full-time or equivalent employees for calendar year 2015. There is no extra year of relief from reporting for mid-size employers, as there is under the employer shared responsibility provisions.... It is easy to get lost in the confusing numeric labels given to the ACA's reporting requirements.... The forms themselves are not easy to complete." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

Text of Respondent's Brief to Supreme Court on Tracing Requirement for ERISA Benefit Overpayments (PDF)
71 pages. "To establish its right to recover, the Plan had to prove three things -- and only three things: [1] Montanile agreed to repay money out of any third-party tort settlement, [2] the settlement fund from which Montanile agreed to make repayment was specifically identified, and [3] Montanile came into possession of that fund.... To ensure that the Plan's right to reimbursement is not ' "without a remedy" ' under the statute, the Court should affirm." [Bd. of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan v. Montanile, No. 14-11678 (11th Cir. Nov. 25, 2014; cert. pet. granted Mar. 30, 2015)] (Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan)  

Text of Seventh Circuit Opinion: Chiropractors Were Not Entitled to ERISA Claims Procedures for Contractual Payments by Insurers
"Plaintiffs concede that they are not participants under the definition in [ERISA] Section 1002(7) ... [b]ut plaintiffs describe themselves as beneficiaries.... The problem with this contention all but catapults off the page: a 'beneficiary' is a person designated 'by a participant' or 'by the terms of an employee benefit plan,' and plaintiffs are neither.... No employee's benefits are at issue and none had to pay an extra penny as a result of the insurer's treatment of some procedures as capitation based rather than fee-for-service based ... Plaintiffs are not 'beneficiaries' as ERISA uses that term, so they are not entitled to the procedures established by Section 1133 and the implementing regulations.... The damages and injunctions therefore must be vacated, and the award of attorneys' fees to plaintiffs falls with them." [Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Nos. 14-2322, 14-3174 and 15-1274 (7th Cir. Oct. 1, 2015)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit)  

Whither Health Insurance Exchanges Under the ACA? Active Purchasing Versus Passive Marketplaces
"Two models have dominated the policy literature on health insurance exchanges, with many hybrids borrowing elements of each. At one end of the policy spectrum, the insurance exchange can serve as a 'marketplace' or 'clearinghouse' where buyers and sellers transact with minimal regulation of the product features and prices.... At the other end of the policy spectrum, the exchange serves as an 'active purchaser' of health insurance on behalf of its clients, the individual consumers. In effect, the exchange seeks to move insurance from a let-the-buyer-beware retail market to a two-stage wholesale and retail market." (Health Affairs)  

Is Your Open Enrollment Passive or Active?
"Passive enrollment allows employees to roll over their benefits from the previous year, without requiring them to assess their plan options or learn more about their benefits. Active enrollment requires employees to choose an enrollment plan, regardless of their coverage from the previous year. While on the surface a passive enrollment might seem like the easier choice, it could lead to higher costs[.]" (Benefitfocus)  

California Court Rules Blue Cross, Blue Shield May Need to Pay State Health Premiums Tax
"The health care service plans -- Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross -- argued that they were regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care, not the California Department of Insurance, and were not insurers subject to the gross premiums tax. But California's Second District Court of Appeals ruled on Sept. 25 in Myers v. State Board of Equalization that those service plans' business seems to be built on selling and administering indemnity-based insurance policies, so the gross premium tax may apply to them." (Kitsap Sun)  

Analysis of 2016 Premium Changes in the ACA Marketplaces
"The chart and tables [in this article] present an updated analysis of changes in premiums for the lowest- and second-lowest cost silver marketplace plans in major cities in 13 states and the District of Columbia, where [the authors] were able to find complete data on rates for all insurers. [The] page will be updated as complete rate information becomes available for more states." (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)  

Two Sides to the Debate Over Obamacare's 'Cadillac Tax'
"On the one hand, the current tax preference for employer-provided health benefits costs the federal government more than $300 billion per year and represents an open-ended subsidy that benefits high-wage workers more than low-wage workers while leading to more generous insurance than would otherwise be the case.... On the other hand, this is not the only possible approach to constraining health spending, and the Cadillac tax would hit low-income workers and the chronically ill hardest by encouraging employers to increase deductibles and co-pays." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

American Academy of Actuaries Comment Letter to IRS on Notice 2015-52: Excise Tax on High Cost Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage (PDF)
10 pages. "Our comments are focused on three sections of the notice -- employer aggregation, cost of applicable coverage, and the age and gender adjustment to the dollar limit. We also include a number of potential implications of the application of the excise tax on the small group market." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

Business Roundtable Comment Letter to IRS on Notice 2015-52: Excise Tax on High Cost Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage
"We are increasingly concerned about the broad interpretation of the 40 percent tax. We ask that you reevaluate the positions taken in both of the proposed guidance documents and instead design the implementation of the tax in a way that does not discourage employers from continuing to innovate, demand marketplace improvements and sponsor plans that promote value in the use of important health care services." (Business Roundtable [BRT])  

CBIZ Acquires Pension Resource Group, Inc.
CBIZ, Inc.

ABC and Fringe Benefit Group Announce Expansion of The Contractors Plan to Include ACA-Compliant Benefits Solution for Construction Contractors
Fringe Benefit Group

Assurant Completes Sale of Supplemental and Small Group Self-Funded Health Insurance Business Lines to National General Holdings Corp.
Assurant

Philips Signs Agreements to Transfer U.S. Pension Plan Obligations for a Large Group of Former Employees to Three Insurance Companies
Royal Philips

Prudential Signs Pension Agreement with JCPenney
Prudential Financial, Inc.

View All Press Releases