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[Guidance Overview]
HHS Issues New Nondiscrimination Requirements for Plans That Receive Any Federal Funding
"[T]he disclosure requirements for individuals with limited English proficiency are different from similar requirements that govern plans under [ERISA] or recent rules implementing the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) forms that must be distributed by all group health plans.... [P]lan sponsors will have to refer to two sources for information as to which languages to use. In addition, the SBC requires only up to four languages, while the Section 1557 rule requires 15 languages -- an amount that will not fit on the SBC template."
(Segal Consulting)
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[Advert.]
2016 Health Savings Accounts Facts - answers at your fingertips
Turn to the new 2016 Health Savings Accounts Facts to obtain vital HSA questions and answers right at your fingertips. Updated to include current fiduciary standards; impact of Obergefell v. Hodges; and recent IRS releases on the Cadillac Tax and HSAs.
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[Guidance Overview]
Health Insurance Marketplace Information Can Be Included in COBRA Notices
"[S]hould employers or their COBRA administrators opt to amend their COBRA notice election forms to include additional information about ACA Marketplace coverage options, they need to ensure the amended election notice meets all COBRA requirements, and is easily understood by the average plan participant."
(Lockton)
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[Guidance Overview]
Are Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notices Required for an HRA?
"Medicare Part D creditable coverage notices generally must be provided for HRAs that reimburse prescription drug expenses, even if the HRAs only cover retirees. The notice obligation applies only for 'Part D eligible individuals' ... (including active and disabled employees, COBRA participants, retirees, and their covered spouses and dependents) who live in the service area of a Part D prescription drug plan. Notices are not required, however, if the Part D eligible individuals are also covered by a Part D plan that is provided by the HRA plan sponsor[.]"
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)
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[Guidance Overview]
Paid Sick Leave Is Coming to Chicago July 1, 2017
"A Covered Employee who works at least 80 hours for an Employer within any 120 day period, shall be eligible for Paid Sick Leave as provided for under the ordinance. (Keep this in mind for your summer seasonal employees.).... The time will accrue only in hourly increments, as fractional accruals are not permitted.... [M]ake room among your other state and federal mandated notices to now include notice to the employees of their rights under this ordinance."
(Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
Chicago Approves Paid Sick Leave Ordinance
"Effective July 1, 2017, employers in the City of Chicago will be required to offer at least five days of paid sick leave to part-time and full-time employees.... Employees accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, with the ability to accrue a maximum of five paid sick days in a 12-month period."
(Michael Best & Friedrich LLP)
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Engaging Young Employees with Health Savings Accounts
"[T]he average HSA-qualified plan is $2,665 less than the average traditional plan, and about $1,600 of that is the employee's contribution to premium. There is a 100% chance they will realize the premium savings, and a lower chance of high out-of-pocket costs for younger, healthy people.... [E]ncourage your young employees to think of HSA savings as part of their retirement planning, not just as a better health spending vehicle."
(Xerox HR Insights)
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2016 Health and Well-being Touchstone Survey Results
"Employers are continuing to rely on traditional methods for mitigating increasing costs through plan design changes and increasing contributions, and they aren't making transformational changes.... 72% of all participants offer a HDHP.... 69% of employers surveyed indicated that they will be financially impacted by the excise tax on high cost plans.... 76% of employers offer wellness programs and they've expanded them into well-being."
(PricewaterhouseCoopers)
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Insurer Land of Lincoln Sues Over Unpaid Obamacare Subsidies
"Start-up insurer Land of Lincoln Health sued the federal government Thursday, saying it is owed more than $70 million under the [ACA].... Land of Lincoln lost $90.8 million last year and another $7.1 million in the first three months of 2016."
(Chicago Tribune; subscription may be required)
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[Opinion]
Health Spending Growth: Still Facing a Triangle of Painful Choices
"The rate of growth in health spending increased in 2014 and 2015 but has recently trended downward, perhaps toward the record low levels experienced from 2009 through 2013. That's the good news. The bad news is that even these record low levels are not sustainable in the long run without sacrifices that will cause extreme pain across the political-economic spectrum."
(Health Affairs)
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[Opinion]
The Fantasy of Single Payer Health Care in the States
"Single-payer healthcare has long had a following in the United States, but it is unlikely to become federal policy.... So single-payer advocates are focusing on individual states. This November Coloradans will vote on single-payer healthcare. A couple of years ago, Vermont's governor tried to institute it, but gave up short of the finish line. Other states will surely try. .. Oregon and (maybe) Hawaii [might be] at the top of the list of states to watch."
(National Center for Policy Analysis [NCPA])
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Benefits in General
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Text of Written Statements to ERISA Advisory Council by Invited Witnesses
Links to the full text of statements submitted to the ERISA Advisory Council's meetings on June 7-8, 2016, covering [1] Cybersecurity Considerations for Benefit Plans (8 statements), and [2] Participant Plan Transfers and Account Consolidation for the Advancement of Lifetime Plan Participation (7 statements).
(Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])
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Press Releases
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2016 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials
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