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Retirement Plan Administrator for Defined Benefit Plans
Ingham Retirement Group
in FL

401k Plan Administrator - Junior or Trainee
Capital Retirement Plan Services, Inc.
in PA

Compliance Testing & Reporting Specialist
American Trust & Savings Bank
in IA

Compliance Analyst
Lockton Companies
in MO

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Legal Issues for Workplace Wellness and Disease Management Programs
RECORDED
(Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)

DOL Guidance
November 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC)

Washington Update
December 2, 2015 in FL
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of North Florida)

DOL Initiative Looking at Uncashed Checks and Missing Participants; Other Issues for 2016
December 8, 2015 in KY
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Greater Cincinnati)

Half Day Seminar with Rich Hochman
December 9, 2015 in OH
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Cleveland)

Spend an Education Afternoon with Bob Kaplan
December 9, 2015 in GA
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Atlanta)

ERISA Current Development Seminar
January 14, 2016 in FL
(GrayRobinson, P.A.)

2016 NAGDCA Industry Roundtable
April 21, 2016 in DC
(National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators)

Financing an ESOP Transaction
September 27, 2016 WEBCAST
(National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])

ESOP Overview - An Introduction to ESOPs
October 4, 2016 WEBCAST
(National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])

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Today's Discussions on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

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[Guidance Overview]

2015 Checklist for ERISA Welfare Plans: Required Disclosures to Participants (PDF)
6-pages. Designed for use during open enrollment as well as during the plan year. (Bass, Berry & Sims)  

[Advert.]

Are soaring premiums negatively affecting your Fully Insured Group Health Plans?

Explore the advantages of a Self-Funded Health Plan! By bringing together cutting edge cost containment strategies, excellent service and outstanding resources, IPMG's EBS division can help you make a difference for your plan.

Fewer Employers Consider Dropping Coverage Due to Obamacare
"[J]ust 7 percent of employers with 50 to 499 employees now say they are 'very likely' or 'likely' to terminate coverage for their workers within the next five years. This is in sharp contrast to the early days of the health reform debate when employers worried the law would ad layers of bureaucracy and higher costs from various new rules and mandates. In 2013, one in five small employers, or 21 percent said they were 'very likely' or 'likely' to terminate their health plans ... And in 2014, the likelihood of employers dropping coverage fell to 15 percent of these smaller employers." (Forbes)  

With the Excise Tax in Their Sights, Employers Hold Health Benefits Cost Growth to 3.8% in 2015
"[T]otal health benefit cost per employee rose 3.8% in 2015, following a 3.9% increase in 2014. 23% of large employers are at risk of hitting excise tax cost threshold in 2018 based on their current premiums -- and 45% are at risk for 2022. 2016 costs predicted to rise by 4.3% after employers make changes to plans.... if they made no changes to their current plans, they estimate that cost would rise by an average of 6.3%. But about half of all employers indicated that they would make changes in 2016." (Mercer)  

ACA Forces Businesses to Consider Growth's Costs
"For some business owners on the edge of the cutoff, the mandate is forcing them to weigh very carefully the price of growing bigger. 'There's kind of a deer-in-headlights moment for those who say, "I have this new potential client, but if I bring them on, I have to hire five additional people," ' said Philip P. Noftsinger, the payroll unit president at CBIZ ... 'They're really trying to assess how much the 50th employee is going to cost.' " (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Prescription Drugs and the Slowdown in Health Care Spending
"An important component of the 2010 to 2013 continued slowdown in spending was the negative growth in real per capita spending on prescription drugs ... [which] declined by 0.5 percent between 2010 and 2013.... One major explanation is the large number of drug patent expirations that peaked in 2012.... Total spending on some medical conditions actually declined in real terms between 2008 and 2012, and reduced pharmaceutical costs were a likely major contributor to these declines." (Health Affairs)  

[Advert.]

Send your clients an interactive greeting card – on us.

Each year the GSM Marketing Creative Team designs an interactive holiday ecard. We customize it for any company to use with absolutely no fee to us. The "cost" is a donation to the food bank or shelter in your town. That's it! Preview the card here and join the Holiday Card Project.

Cancer Society Asks Regulators to Limit Insurers' Charges for Key Drugs
"With many cancer drugs costing more than $5,000 a month, paying a percentage, also known as co-insurance, means patients must pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars at the pharmacy counter until they reach their annual insurance deductible. This appears 'not to be designed to encourage use of cheaper or more effective alternatives, but to extract the maximum patient cost sharing for cancer drugs,' the report said." (National Public Radio)  

American Medical Association Urges Ban on TV Drug Ads
"The American Medical Association voted this week in favor of a ban on ... direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and medical devices.... [O]nly the Food and Drug Administration or Congress has the power to ban pharmaceutical advertising.... 'Today's vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices,' AMA board chair-elect Patrice A. Harris said ... 'Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate.' " (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Higher Health Insurance Premiums on the Way?
"The standard argument made by large companies that want to merge is that the new company will be able to operate more efficiently and save consumers money. But two Wall Street analysts predicted ... that mergers proposed by Anthem Inc. with Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc. with Humana Inc. will likely lead to attempts to raise premiums." (Bloomberg BNA)  

UnitedHealth Might Pull Out of ACA Market
"UnitedHealth ... said Thursday that it would pull back on the marketing of its exchange business, a few weeks after open enrollment for that coverage began nationwide. It also said that it will decide in the first half of next year 'to what extent it can continue to serve the public exchange markets in 2017.'... The company still plans to expand into more exchanges, but medical claims have come in higher than expected on the exchanges overall, and its business in particular has deteriorated." (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

In Many Obamacare Markets, Renewal Is Not an Option
"There are 499 markets for Obamacare plans in the United States. In 89 of them, the insurance company that offered this year's best deal in the 'silver' category will not be returning for 2016.... Most of those exits are a result of insurance co-op plans that failed.... People in these canceled plans can't simply renew their current policy if they like it -- they have to go back into the marketplace and find a new insurer." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Heffernan Retirement Services Named 2015 PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year
Heffernan Insurance Brokers

My Virtual Coach from The Principal Helps Shape Up Retirement Plans
Principal Financial Group

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Hired to Run $217 million Equity-League 401(k) Plan
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services

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