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TIAA-CREF
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PenSys, Inc.
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ADP
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The Kagan Company
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Webcast Series: The Basics of Qualified Retirement Plans
January 7, 2016 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

Fifth Annual ERISA Fiduciary Checkup
January 20, 2016 WEBCAST
(WithumSmith+Brown)

Employer Use of Private Exchanges: What does the Future Hold?
February 17, 2016 in IL
(Midwest Business Group on Health)

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Today's Discussions on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

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[Official Guidance]

Text of Instructions for 2015 IRS Form 8885: Health Coverage Tax Credit (PDF)
"You can take the HCTC for 2015 if you were an eligible trade adjustment assistance (TAA) recipient, alternative TAA (ATAA) recipient, reemployment TAA (RTAA) recipient, [PBGC] pension payee, or qualifying family member.... If you are completing the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction Worksheet in your tax return instructions and you were an eligible TAA recipient, ATAA recipient, RTAA recipient, or PBGC pension payee, you must complete Form 8885 before completing that worksheet." [Also see 2015 Form 8885: Health Coverage Tax Credit.] (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

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Executive Forum on Rewarding Healthy Behaviors – Feb 2-3 - Las Vegas

Learn how innovative workplace wellness strategies, preventive health management initiatives, and evidence-based success impact workforce productivity and increase ROI. HR/Benefits Staff: Use code BLINK2 to attend for $195.

[Guidance Overview]

Employer Wellness Programs and Genetic Information: Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
"This report explains when an employer may request genetic information from an employee as part of a wellness program with an inducement attached to participation and the requirements the employer must follow when doing so. It also discusses the EEOC's proposed rule whereby a spouse may be incentivized to provide his or her own medical information, which is also the employee's genetic information, as part of a wellness program." [Report No. R44311, dated Dec. 17, 2015.] (Congressional Research Service [CRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

Seattle Adds Serious Teeth to Sick and Safe Leave Law
"Seattle is the now the first city in the country to create a private right of action under its mandatory paid leave laws ... The ordinance's amendments expand the definition of 'adverse action' by specifically calling out employment-related actions, including denying promotions, failing to re-hire after seasonal work interruptions, engaging in unfair immigration-related practices, and terminations.... A successful employee is entitled to reinstatement, or front pay in lieu of reinstatement, along with payment of unpaid wages plus interest. Prevailing individuals are also entitled to receive twice the amount of unpaid wages as liquidated damages, and receipt of a $5,000 to $20,000 penalty payment from the employer. The applicable statute of limitations is three years." (Fisher & Phillips LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

Most New York City Employers Must Offer Commuter Transportation Benefits to Full-Time Employees
"New York City's Mass Transit Benefit Law requires that most New York City employers with at least 20 full-time employees offer such full-time employees the opportunity to use their pre-tax earnings, up to $130 per month, to pay for certain 'qualified transportation fringe benefits,' but not qualified parking. Although the Mass Transit Benefit Law takes effect on January 1, 2016, covered employers essentially have a six-month grace period to comply because the law provides that penalties will not be assessed for violations that occur before July 1, 2016. With this law, New York City joins San Francisco and Washington, D.C. in mandating that employers offer transportation benefits to their employees." (Littler)  

Taking Family Leave Benefits to the Next Level
"[T]he vast majority of employers are not offering any form of family leave benefits.... [If] you provide maternity benefits and want to expand the offering to include paternity leave, you need to realize that most men won't take full advantage of it.... [T]he issue of how to include nonexempt and hourly workers in a parental-leave program is challenging.... [T]he coverage of the challenges associated with caregiving in the workplace continues to gain traction in the media[.]" (Human Resource Executive Online)  

The Limits of Using Medicare Data to Evaluate U.S. Health Care Spending
"[W]e've gotten in the habit of using Medicare data to comment about spending across the entire U.S. health care system. But as private health insurance data have become available to researchers, we're finding that using Medicare data this way is likely a mistake.... According to [recent research], private insurance spending is driven by health care providers' prices, rather than the volume of health care services provided, which is the primary driver of Medicare spending. And price ... varies dramatically both within and across geographic areas." (The Commonwealth Fund)  

Employers Using More Aggressive Methods to Battle Rising Drug Costs
"In tackling [increasing prescription drug costs], employers are becoming more aggressive. Many have expanded requirements that doctors obtain advance approval from health-plan administrators for certain costly drugs ... Another increasingly common strategy is 'step therapy,' which requires that patients be treated with lower-cost drugs before the health plan will pay for a more expensive option.... A newer tactic is pursuing supply contracts that cap annual price increases for drugs at a set percentage[.]" (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

Reading the Tea Leaves for Tax-Exempt Health Plans in a Post-Vision Service Plan and ACA World (PDF)
39 presentation slides. Topics on tax-exempt Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) include [1] court decisions and Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) guidelines prior to the Vision Service Plan, Inc. (VSP) decision; [2] the impact of the VSP decision; [3] Post-VSP IRS guidance; [4] ACA provisions influencing HMO operations and restructuring, including the Section 9010 fee on health insurance issuers, and the Transitional Reinsurance Program fee. (EY)  

Coding Improvement for Commercial Exchange Plans: Is It Worth the Cost?
"[This paper] provides several examples that illustrate that the return on investment for an individual carrier is only minimally impacted by what other carriers do (unless the carrier owns a significant majority of the membership in the market) and instead is primarily tied to the increase in risk score achieved by each carrier relative to the cost of achieving that risk score increase." (Milliman)  

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Now is a great time to join Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)

WEB members represent more than 25 professions and 30 areas of expertise within the pension and benefits industry-including administrators, consultants, attorneys, accountants, investment managers, communications experts and benefits managers. Join today.

Startup Health Insurer Embraces Narrow-Network Plan Design
"Melody's business plan is to design several bundles of low-premium plans that feature very narrow provider networks from which individual consumers can choose ... The company hopes to negotiate greater discounts on procedures if it steers more customers to a smaller number of providers." (FierceHealthPayer)  

More Companies May Start Helping Employees Buy Homes
"Facebook ... is offering workers $10,000 or more to move within 10 miles of the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters.... It's a move that has the potential to entice employees to work longer hours while easing the stresses caused by long commutes and the San Francisco Bay area's staggering housing prices.... Why haven't more companies done it? The simple answer has to do with taxes." (Bloomberg)  

Insurers Are Using Your Personal Data to Nudge You to Better Health
"Insurance companies have always had access to your medical records, and in some cases your genetic data, too. Now, they're paying data miners to sift through information on everything from what model car you drive to how many hours you sleep, from which magazines you read to where you shop and what you buy. The goal: To decipher patterns that will allow them to steer you away from health emergencies. And to save themselves a whole lot of money in the process." (STAT)  

[Opinion]

Hospital Prices: The Inconvenient Truth
"I spent 51 hours in a hospital last summer for a new knee: I was charged $55,000 and the insurance company paid $37,000 based on its negotiated rate with the hospital. My bill covering 11 line item charges was submitted directly to the insurer without my review. I've studied healthcare for 40 years. I ran a hospital and plan early in my career. But I couldn't figure out what the hospital did, calculate what it might have cost them to do it, and how it all ended up as the prices charged and payment negotiated. No wonder hospital prices are getting increased attention from regulators, payers and consumers." (Paul Keckley, Ph.D., Navigant Healthcare)  

[Opinion]

ECFC Statement on Two-Year Delay of Cadillac Tax (PDF)
"While the ECFC views this delay measure as an interim achievement ... it stands by its vital commitment to repealing or revising the tax as soon as possible. Among those most harmed by the Cadillac tax are Americans who rely on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to set aside pretax dollars to help them better manage their healthcare costs during a time of rising premiums, deductibles, and copayments. This is because consumers ' own pre-tax dollars count toward the thresholds set by the Cadillac tax." (Employers Council on Flexible Compensation [ECFC])  

[Official Guidance]

Text of ISS Frequently Asked Questions: U.S. Executive Compensation Policies (PDF)
29 pages. 69 Q&As covering: [1] Financial data: total shareholder return and revenue; [2] Pay for performance evaluation; [3] Determining peer companies; [4] Problematic pay practices/commitments on problematic pay practices; [5] Frequency of advisory vote on executive compensation; [6] Advisory vote on golden parachutes (SOGP). (Institutional Shareholder Services [ISS])  

[Official Guidance]

Text of ISS Frequently Asked Questions: U.S. Equity Compensation Plans (PDF)
25 pages. 52 Q&As cover: [1] Cost of equity plans; [2] Fungible plans; [3] Burn rate; [4] Liberal share recycling; [5] Accelerated vesting; [6] Liberal definition of change in control; [7] 162(m) plans; [8] Non-employee director equity compensation plans; [9] Equity Plan Scorecard: Factor-related questions, and other methodology-related questions. (Institutional Shareholder Services [ISS])  

The 2016 ABCs of Employee Benefits
"Congratulations on making it through one of the most legally and administratively challenging years in employee benefits history. But, as you know, employee benefits never sleep. Ed Bray, senior vice president of compliance with Ascension, provides the 2016 ABC's of employee benefits -- what he calls the annual 'just tell me what I need to do' list." (Employee Benefit News)  

Mariaca Wealth Management, LLC is Certified for Fiduciary Excellence
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

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