Account Manager
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

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Nicholas Pension Consultants
in CA

Retirement Plan Services Plan Compliance Specialist
Bankers Trust
in IA

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Employee Plans Programs - Summer 2015 Updates
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Benefits Forum
October 28, 2015 in NC
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Carolinas)

IRS/EPCRS Voluntary Compliance Programs
October 28, 2015 in OH
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Cleveland)

All-Day Seminar With Adam Pozek
November 4, 2015 in IN
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Northern Indiana)

ACA Reporting Requirements: Deciphering the 1094C and 1095C Forms
November 5, 2015 in MD
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Baltimore Chapter)

EBSA Office of Enforcement: Priorities and Initiatives
December 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

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[Guidance Overview]

ACA Information for Self-Employed Individuals
"If you're a self-employed individual with no employees, you are eligible to purchase coverage through the new individual health insurance Marketplace. Enrollment for 2016 begins on November 1, 2015.... Some of the provisions that may impact self-employed individuals include: Individual Shared Responsibility (Also Known as Individual Mandate) ... Coverage through Medicaid Expansion ... Additional Medicare Assessment ... Net Investment Income Assessment." (U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA])  

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12 Group Health Plan Deadlines to Complete Before Year-End
"ACA employer responsibility information reporting ... Medicare notice of creditable coverage ... Form 5500 ... Transitional reinsurance enrollment ... Transitional reinsurance second installation fee ... Form 990 and Form 8868 ... Summary Annual Report to employees ... Corrections to cafeteria plan discrimination failures ... Wellness program review ... Cost-sharing and high deductible review ... Compliance review ... Opt-out payment review." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)  

Ready or Not, ACA Forms Due to Employees by Jan. 31
"For the 2015 plan year, forms that must be filed with the IRS are due no later than Feb. 29, 2016 (or March 31, 2016, if filed electronically). But employee copies of Forms 1095-B and 1095-C, if required, must be provided to employees annually by Jan. 31. (The deadline is Feb. 1 for 2016, since Jan. 31 falls on a Sunday.) Form 1095-C is one of the more complicated disclosures ... It is filed by ALEs and furnished to everyone who has been a full-time employee for one or more months of the calendar year[.]" (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

Are Employers Prepared for the Cadillac Tax? (PDF)
9 pages. "[M]ost employers expect the Cadillac tax to influence their benefits strategy. Despite this expectation, about 63 percent of employers have not calculated their exposure to the tax or modeled to determine the first year that the tax will apply. Even more employers (68 percent) have not started to reduce the generosity of health benefits to move away from higher-cost packages. Finally, only about one in four surveyed employers have developed a strategy to offer several benefit coverage levels (e.g., through a private health insurance exchange) to remove options that exceed the 2018 Cadillac tax thresholds." (Deloitte Center for Health Solutions)  

Much Ado About the Cadillac Tax
"While we have received two notices from the [IRS] this year soliciting comments on what should be included and on whom [the Cadillac Tax] should be assessed as a 'coverage provider', we do not have the proposed rules for how it will be calculated or assessed to guide us in making adjustments to benefits or in contract negotiations with vendors, third party administrators, insurers or collective bargaining units, all of which are potentially impacted depending on how the 'coverage provider' is defined as the parties potentially being assessable for the Cadillac Tax." (Winstead PC)  

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Drafting and Managing a Fair and Compliant Tuition Assistance Program

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Cadillac Tax Could Hit Cities, States Hard
"[P]ublic institutions such as cities, states and schools will pay the piper in huge numbers. The Cadillac tax is expected to generate $80 billion over 10 years and could translate into $76 billion in local taxes over that decade, according to the [CBO].... Last year, government plans cost nearly 18 percent higher than non-public plans, and public employees paid 45 percent less than non-public employees[.]" (Watchdog.org)  

Employers Expect Rate of Increase in Health Care Costs in 2015 to Remain Low But Well Above Inflation
"Employers expect a 4.1 percent rate of increase in the cost of employer-sponsored health care benefits in 2015 -- the lowest in 15 years but well above inflation ... Health care costs for 2015 are expected to average $12,041 per employee, up from $11,567 in 2014. On average, employees will pay 22.2 percent of total premium costs in 2015, which in payroll deductions translates into an average employee contribution of $2,676, or $223 a month." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

N.Y. Attorney General Reaches Agreement With Urgent Care Clinics In First 'Surprise Medical Bill' Action
"Four companies running urgent care centers in New York have agreed to disclose more fully which insurance plans they accept, following an inquiry by the state's attorney general that found unclear or incomplete information on their websites that could result in larger-than-expected bills for consumers. The agreements mark the first enforcement action brought under New York's new 'surprise medical bill' law ... [which] aims to reduce the number of consumers who get such bills when they unknowingly see providers who are not part of their insurance plan networks." (Kaiser Health News)  

The ACA and the Labor Market: A First Look (PDF)
24 pages. "[C]ounties with large fractions of uninsured (and therefore a large exposure to the ACA) before the enactment or the implementation of the ACA experienced more rapid employment and salary growth than did counties with smaller fractions of people uninsured, both after the implementation of the ACA and after its enactment.... [T]he growth of the fraction of employees in states with larger uninsurance rates was not substantially higher than it was in states with smaller uninsurance rates. These findings are not accounted for by differential rates of recovery from the Great Recession in high- and low- uninsurance areas." [Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 746] (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)  

Marketplace Enrollees: Attitudes and Experiences
"Enrollees value coverage, with 83 percent saying insurance is a 'must-have' and they will continue to find a way to pay for it. However, premium amounts remain key to affordability.... Among current enrollees who expect to stay insured for the next 12 months (91 percent), more than 8 in 10 say they are likely to continue getting their insurance through the marketplace. The tax credit is very valuable to the two-thirds (64 percent) who received financial help. This is the main reason they will stay with marketplace coverage for the next year." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)  

Blue Shield Gets Whacked by California Regulators Over Pricing on Individual, Small Group Plans
"State regulators pressured Blue Shield of California to revisit project rate increases for individual, family plan and small group customers in 2016 and 2017, after a review by the state Department of Managed Health Care found that projected drug costs were 'higher than estimates by Blue Shield's peers.' Michelle Rouillard, the DMHC's director, ... slammed Blue Shield, saying the public interest requires that the department monitor its medical cost projections 'very closely' to see if they prove to be accurate in 2016." (San Francisco Business Times)  

California Regulators Find Sixth Unreasonable Health Insurance Premium Hike By Aetna This Year
"California Department of Insurance actuaries found Aetna Life Insurance Company's most recent small group health insurance rate increase unreasonable. Aetna is increasing rates for small businesses and their employees by an annual average of 27.4 percent, affecting over 40,000 employees and costing small businesses a projected $5.5 million in excessive rates." (Consumer Watchdog)  

[Opinion]

Flatlined: White House Says Obamacare Exchange Enrollment Growth to Collapse in 2016
"[T]he Obama administration announced that it projected dramatically lower enrollment growth for Obamacare's exchanges in 2016: only 1.3 million, compared to a prediction of 8 million when the law was passed five years ago.... [W]hen the law was passed, the [CBO] projected that enrollment would grow by 8 million in 2016, and reach a total of 21 million effectuated enrollees. In other words, Obamacare's exchanges are on track to achieve less than half of the enrollment that was originally predicted." (Forbes)  

[Opinion]

Obamacare's Mysterious Missing Billions
"Out of $5,509,074,183 in grants allocated to state-based exchanges, $1,453,766,433 was spent on actually building the IT infrastructure of Obamacare websites. More suspiciously still, nearly $2.4 billion was authorized for IT spending, and of the over $5.5 billion total, apparently only $3.2 billion was actually spent. However, despite the exchanges being $2.3 billion under budget, only a scant $300 million has been returned to the federal government so far." (TownHall)  

Bad News for Retirees: No Social Security Cost-of-Living Increase, Higher Medical Costs for Many
"Most Americans have their outpatient care premiums for Medicare Part B deducted directly from their Social Security checks, and the annual cost-of-living increase usually covers any increase to premiums. When it doesn't, a longstanding 'hold harmless' law protects about 70 percent of seniors from having their Social Security payments reduced. But that leaves about 30 percent of Americans on Medicare to cover a hike to premiums that otherwise would be spread across everyone. That group includes people new to Medicare, federal retirees who don't receive Social Security payments and about 3.1 million people with higher incomes, that is, those making more than $85,000." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

As Job Market Tightens, Touting Benefits Can Close the Deal
"Forty percent of respondents said one of the ways they are hoping to tempt top talent is with their benefits programs, a statistically significant increase from 2013 (30 percent).... About 66 percent of respondents believed health care benefits would become a more important part of their efforts to recruit employees at all levels in the next three to five years; more than half indicated the same for retirement savings and planning (59 percent); financial and compensation benefits such as financial advice, bonus plans, subsidies and educational assistance (53 percent); and flexible working benefits (52 percent)." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

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