Benefits Compliance Attorney
Ogletree Deakins Law Firm
in IL

Controller
Multiemployer Benefit Plans
in MD

Regulatory Services Director - ERISA
Great-West Financial
in CO, WI

Accounting Clerk
National Pension Fund
in DC

Defined Contribution Account Manager
Qualified Plan Administrators, Inc.
in GA

401(k) Account Manager
Alliance Benefit Group
in WI

Junior ERISA / Employee Benefits Defense Litigation
Ogletree Deakins Law Firm
in IL, IN

Conversion Specialist
Alliance Benefit Group
in WI

Pension Administrator
Professional Capital Services
in PA

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Tidal Wave of Retirement Plan Lawsuits Hit Higher Education
August 24, 2016 WEBCAST
Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC

Special Briefing: Higher Ed Retirement Plan Fee Litigation
August 25, 2016 WEBCAST
Nixon Peabody LLP

ACA’s Newest Nondiscrimination Rules and How They Apply to Group Health Plans
September 13, 2016 WEBCAST
Cowden Associates, Inc.

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[Guidance Overview]

Government Proposes Rules for Employer Opt-Out Payments Under ACA
"An unconditional opt-out arrangement increases the employee's required contribution for purposes of determining the affordability of health coverage under the ACA. The proposed regulations provide an exception for opt-out payments made under an 'eligible opt-out arrangement.' In an eligible opt-out arrangement, employees must offer 'reasonable evidence' of alternative coverage at least every plan year."
Willis Towers Watson

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2016 Tax Facts on Insurance and Employee Benefits - answers at your fingertips

Often complex tax law and regulations are explained in clear, understandable language. Pertinent planning points are provided throughout.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Health Care Tax Tip 2016-65: Understanding the Terms 'Affordable' and 'Minimum Value' Coverage
"If the lowest cost self-only only health plan is 9.5 percent or less of your full-time employee's household income then the coverage is considered affordable. Because you likely will not know your employee's household income, for purposes of the employer shared responsibility provisions, you can determine whether you offered affordable coverage under various safe harbors based on information available to you."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

District Court Applies Discretionary Clause Ban to ERISA Self-Funded Plan
"This opinion addresses two issues: first, the adequacy of the plan document's delegation of discretionary authority to the claims administrator and, second, whether state law prohibiting discretionary clauses may apply to a self funded ERISA plan. In a poorly reasoned opinion, the district court reached the wrong conclusion on both issues. The mistake in the ERISA preemption analysis is the most troubling." [Thomas v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., No. 15-1112 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 15, 2016)]
Harmon on Health Plan Law

Health Savings Accounts: Understanding the Rules for Withdrawals
"Withdrawals from a Health Savings Account (the IRS calls them 'distributions') are tax free as long as they are used for eligible expenses, are incurred by individuals eligible for tax-free withdrawals from your HSA, and are incurred during an eligible time period. This [article describes] the details of HSA withdrawals."
Xerox HR Insights

CMS Releases New Prescription Drug Cost Data
"The 2014 data set contains information from over one million distinct health care providers who collectively prescribed approximately $121 billion in prescription drugs paid for under the Medicare Part D program. This represents a 17 percent increase compared to the 2013 data set."
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]

[Advert.]

2016 Healthcare Reform Facts - making sense of ongoing changes

The fully updated 2016 Healthcare Reform Facts eliminates confusion and makes sense of ongoing changes by sorting through new events to identify and define vital developments, and most importantly, provide clear, concise guidance.

Gaining Coverage Through Medicaid or Private Insurance Increased Prescription Use and Lowered Out-of-Pocket Spending
"Uninsured people who gained private coverage filled, on average, 28 percent more prescriptions and had 29 percent less out-of-pocket spending per prescription in 2014 compared to 2013. Those who gained Medicaid coverage had larger increases in fill rates (79 percent) and reductions in out-of-pocket spending per prescription (58 percent)."
Health Affairs

California Lawmaker Pulls Plug on Drug Price Transparency Bill
"After being approved by a key committee last week, a bill that would have required drug companies to justify treatment costs and price hikes was pulled by its author on Wednesday. California state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) said that he introduced the bill 'with the intention of shedding light on the reasons precipitating skyrocketing drug prices.' But amendments by an Assembly committee last week make it difficult to accomplish this goal, he said[.]"
Kaiser Health News

[Opinion]

Employers, Unions Look to Direct Contracting for Health System Contracts
"Employers and unions are quietly beginning to go around their brokers and health plans, which have often become the complicit contracting agents for the industry's excesses. Seen from this perspective, direct contracting's potential is virtually limitless."
Employee Benefit News

[Guidance Overview]

GASB 73: Implementation and Overview (PDF)
"New accounting rules for public postretirement benefit plans in the United States are set to take effect soon. Successful implementation of the new rules will require an understanding of a variety of technical concepts regarding the various newly required calculations."
Milliman

Text of Treasury Department 2016-2017 Priority Guidance Plan (PDF)
30 pages, dated Aug. 15, 2016. The 2016-2017 Priority Guidance Plan contains 281 projects, including 35 retirement plan projects and 20 projects relating to executive compensation, health care and other benefits, and employment taxes.
U.S. Department of the Treasury

ERISA Advisory Council Highlights Importance of Cybersecurity Oversight
"[T]he Council is considering ... [1] General types of cybersecurity risks that benefit plans are exposed to and how the overall threat environment is evolving; [2] Steps, processes, and controls that benefit plans and third party providers are taking to address these risks; [3] Differences in the scale of cybersecurity risk between small and large plan sponsors, with the objective of tailoring guidance and education accordingly; [4] Resources that will help plan sponsors identify and establish a scalable cyber risk management strategy, including the vendor selection and monitoring process; and, [5] Sample tip sheets, checklists, and other educational tools that can be used to provide plan sponsors, vendors, and plan participants with guidance on navigating cybersecurity risks related to their benefit plans."
Greenberg Traurig

How Income Affects Your Medicare Premiums (PDF)
"The amount of premium you pay is based on your income tax return from two years ago. So the premium you will pay for 2017 will be based on your 2015 income tax return, 2018 premiums will be based on your 2016 income tax return, and so on. Taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over certain income brackets pay a higher Medicare premium than others....In April 2015, legislation was passed to reduce the income brackets for Levels 3-5 starting in 2018, with inflation adjustments in subsequent years. This means that more taxpayers will be subject to the higher IRMAA Medicare premiums beginning in 2018.
Meld Financial, Inc.

SEC Whistleblower Actions Suggest Immediate Changes to Severance and Release Agreements
"For decades, employers have required terminating employees to advise them of any facts of which the employee is aware that constitute or might constitute a violation of any ethical, legal, or contractual standards or obligations of the company.... [W]here some employers seem to have gone too far [is] by asking that the former employee not take part in or benefit from any litigation of governmental actions involving such matters."
Winston & Strawn LLP

SEC Enforcement Actions May Require Changes to Severance Agreements
"Standard severance clauses covering [1] confidential information and [2] prohibitions against receiving additional monetary awards have been deemed unlawful by the SEC, resulting in settlements and fines exceeding $600,000, plus other sanctions.... 'No further recovery' clauses may need to be removed or redrafted to permit recovery of whistleblower bounties under Dodd-Frank. Confidentiality clauses ... may need carve-outs that permit disclosure to the SEC or other government agencies, without requiring prior notification to the company."
BakerHostetler

SEC Enforcement Action Finds Confidentiality and Waiver Provisions in Severance Agreement Violate Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Protections
"As part of the settlement, BlueLinx will pay a $265,000 penalty and must inform all parties to the severance agreements that it does not prohibit former employees from: [1] providing information to, or communicating with, SEC staff without notice to BlueLinx; or [2] accepting a whistleblower award from the SEC pursuant to Section 21F.... [C]ompanies under the jurisdiction of the SEC should proceed with caution when entering into any employment related contract that contains restrictions on the use of confidential information, and should categorically avoid including waivers of whistleblower bounties."
Schiff Hardin

HealthEquity's HSA Learning Site Educates Americans
HealthEquity

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