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Bates & Company
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N.A. Falcone & Associates, Inc.
in PA

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Qualified Plan Administrators, Inc.
in GA

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John Hancock
in ANY STATE, CA

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Pension Investors Corporation of Orlando, Inc.
in FL

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General ACA Information Returns Discussion
December 15, 2015 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

DOL Presentation on EBSA Investigation of Employee Plans
January 21, 2016 in MI
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Detroit)

Establishing and Amending IRAs
March 22, 2016 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

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[Official Guidance]

IRS Clarifies Use of Publication 5164: Test Package for Electronic Filers of ACA Information Returns
"Two Publication 5164, Test Package for Electronic Filers of Affordable Care Act Information Returns are available: Use Publication 5164 Phase I for current tax year 2015 testing through mid-January 2016. Phase I is the character by character match testing. Use Publication 5164 Phase II beginning in mid-January. The specific date will be provided at a later time. Phase II is testing under the robust environment, which mirrors Production." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

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So How Many Hours Is 'Full-Time,' Anyway?
"[A]pplying general principles of contract, what is the definition of 'full-time'? It's the 'amount of time considered customary or standard' -- and that could be a lot more than 40 hours per week." [Safdi v. Covered Employer's Long Term Disability Plan, et al., No. 14-3598 (6th Cir. Nov. 24, 2015)] (Lane Powell PC)  

An Innovative Benefit: Student Loan Repayment Assistance
"Nearly 80% of the student loan holders surveyed ... said they would like to work for a company that offers a loan repayment match, and repayment assistance was valued as much as major parts of the total compensation package -- health care and 401(k) plans.... Forty-three million Americans have borrowed for education, with balances totaling $1.2 trillion[.]" (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])  

Employer Sponsored Health Care May Cost Families 20 Percent of Income by 2025
"With health care costs rising quickly, the average family in the United States with an employer-sponsored health plan can expect to pay a fifth of its household income -- or $13,213 a year -- out of pocket for health care by 2025, according to a new study ... [The report] advocates for changing regulations to allow for a more flexible and lower cost health system. This could mean, for example, creating low-cost walk-in clinics that can be used to provide immunizations or reduce unnecessary emergency room visits." (MassLive)  

Companies Can Do More to Foster a Culture of Well-Being
"[R]oughly one-in-three respondents (33 percent) do not feel comfortable taking personal time off/vacation days. Moreover, nearly one-third (32 percent) say they've consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments and fewer than half (48 percent) say their organization as a whole values their life outside work.... These results were amplified among millennial talent, who are quickly becoming the majority group in the workforce. This group was more likely to say if they saw their peers, managers, senior leadership, and CEO prioritizing a personal commitment over work, they would feel more comfortable doing the same." (Deloitte Center for Health Solutions)  

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The Impact of New Hepatitis C Drugs on National Health Spending
"[T]he huge jump in prescription drug spending that occurred in 2014 was unforeseen. In 2013, spending on prescription drugs grew by only 2.4 percent, but in 2014, it skyrocketed to 12.2 percent. Some of this increase in spending on prescription drugs is due to expanded coverage, and some is due to the acceleration in prescription drug prices. A major source of this growth was the introduction of Sovaldi in December 2013, and Harvoni in October 2014.... U.S. sales of hepatitis C drugs seem to have stabilized at about $14 billion per year, which equates to about 150,000 persons treated per year (at a rate of $90,000 per person treated)." (Altarum Institute)  

Insurance Out-of-Pocket Charges for Specialty Drugs Increase as Retail Prices Surge
"Cost-sharing for expensive specialty drugs ... evidenced more consistent changes from 2014 to 2016. The average copayment costs increased dramatically, ranging from 16% to 71% depending on the health plan category. Coinsurance fees ... increased for three-out-of-four health plan categories examined. Only silver plans had the same average coinsurance fee for specialty drugs in 2014 as they did in 2016. Increases for the other three plan categories averaged from 7% to 20%." (HealthPocket)  

How CBO Estimates the Effects of the ACA on the Labor Market (PDF)
22 pages. "In [2025], CBO estimates, the ACA will make the labor supply, measured as the total compensation paid to workers, 0.86 percent smaller than it would have been in the absence of that law.... By 2019 ... the ACA will reduce the labor supply by 0.80 percent ... Those estimates reflect CBO's assessment of how workers, employers, and others will respond to the many significant changes that the ACA has made to federal programs and tax policies." (Congressional Budget Office [CBO])  

Measuring Recent Apparent Declines in Longevity: The Role of Increasing Educational Attainment
"Classifying education in terms of relative rank, [the authors] found little evidence that mortality increased dramatically in the bottom quartile of the distribution, but mortality conditions for whites with low socioeconomic position are, at best, stagnant, and disparities between blacks and whites are entrenched. These findings underscore the urgency of a concerted health equity agenda and the importance of the health safety-net." (Urban Institute)  

UnitedHealthcare to Stop Paying Agents for Selling ACA Health Plans
"United's new corporate policy ... will go into effect Jan. 1 in North Carolina and most of the two dozen states where United sells ACA coverage. That means that thousands of insurance agents nationwide won't be paid for enrolling customers in ACA policies, a process that can require several hours of consultation to compare out-of-pocket costs, drug prices and provider networks between multiple health plans.... Agents say United's decision puts them in an bind because they will have no incentive to steer customers to United plans, even if those plans are the best choices. Several agents said ... that United offers some of the best-priced plans in North Carolina, where it operates in 77 counties." (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

Streamlining Consumer Experiences, Enrollment Proposed for 2017 Marketplace
"Employees with health insurance plans in the federal Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) would have more options for plan years starting in 2017. Under the proposed rule, employers would be able to offer all plans across all levels of coverage from one insurance company.... Under current regulations, employers participating in the federal SHOP marketplace can offer their employees either one health plan and/or one dental plan, or all health and dental plans across one metal level " (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

Retiree Health Care a Budget Buster: Boston Could Cut Costs, Still Reward Long-Time Employees
"Boston reported an unfunded liability for retiree health care in 2013 of over $2 billion ... This equated to a liability of over $3,000 per city resident -- the fifth highest per capita of large American cities.... In fiscal 2014, Boston contributed $154 million toward retiree health care ... This sum covered its current benefit premiums plus $40 million to help pre-fund its future liabilities for retiree health care.... Boston is using two overly optimistic assumptions in estimating what it would take to address its future costs for retiree health care." (The Brookings Institution)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Form 2848, Revised December 2015 (PDF)
"A separate Form 2848 must be completed for each taxpayer. Form 2848 will not be honored for any purpose other than representation before the IRS." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

Nothing (Still) Matters: ERISA Preemption Returns to the Supreme Court
"As a practical matter, what the Court decides may not mean much for All-Payer Claims Databases. If Vermont prevails and other states pile on, large national employers can ask the [DOL] to issue reporting regulations that would render conflicting state requirements invalid. If Liberty Mutual prevails, Vermont can ask the [DOL] for a formal waiver (which it probably has authority to grant) allowing its law to be enforced. These possibilities also demonstrate that ERISA federalism, like other evolving areas of law, is no longer a simple question of state versus federal control but has become subject to shared governance based on statute." [Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., (2d Cir. Feb. 4, 2014, oral arg. Dec. 2, 2015)] (Health Affairs)  

Code Sec. 162(m) Trap for Smaller Reporting Companies
"[Chief Counsel Memorandum 2015 43003] concluded that the CFO of a smaller reporting company is a covered employee if the CFO is one of the two most highly compensated executive officers other than the CEO who were serving as executive officers at the end of the year." (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

A Summary of Compensation-Related Updates to the Proxy Voting Guidelines of ISS and Glass Lewis (PDF)
9 pages. "As was the case in 2015, neither ISS nor Glass Lewis has adopted major changes to their voting guidelines. Although companies should be aware of and consider the policy recommendations of each advisor, these recommendations should not overrule the judgment of the companies' directors on compensation policy." (Shearman & Sterling LLP)  

Five Things Compensation Committee Members Need to Know
"[1] Anticipate that investors are three times more likely to vote against compensation committee members at companies with low [Say-on-Pay (SOP)] support. [2] To drive higher SOP support, focus on providing clear disclosures around pay practices and programs first, then consider purposeful engagement and meaningful responsiveness to shareholder concerns. [3] To enhance company-investor dialogue about pay issues, involve a knowledgeable independent board leader, compensation chair and/or committee member in the conversation. [4] Anticipate that investors will continue to file shareholder proposals on pay and campaign for specific pay-related changes and disclosure. [5] Start to evaluate new and pending pay-related requirements and consider how to best communicate to investors." (EY)  

Koresko-Connected Law Firm Dodges ERISA Claims
"A law firm connected to John Koresko's lawsuit-plagued multiple employer welfare arrangements successfully defeated claims that it violated ERISA, a federal judge ruled. However, Portland-based Samuels Yoelin Kantor LLP must still defend state-law claims of malpractice and fiduciary breach stemming from its work representing Koresko's arrangements." [Kalan v. Farmers & Merchants Trust Company of Chambersburg, No. 15-1435 (E.D. Penn. Dec. 3, 2015)] (Bloomberg BNA)  

Segal Hires National Director of Content, Marketing and Sales Support
The Segal Group

US Labor Department Obtains Consent Judgment to Recover more than $500K for 401(k) Plan of Largo, Maryland, Defense Contractor
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

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