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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter June 27, 2018 |
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Jobs
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Webcasts, Conferences 11 ways to use HR data to drive better benefit plan design and utilization
Solving the Planning Gap: Health Care Costs in Retirement
2018 Las Vegas Mid-Sized Retirement & Healthcare Plan Management Conference
Bad Bad Boys of Employee Benefits: Ethics
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Account Manager - Employee Benefits|
[Official Guidance]
195 pages, June 26, 2018. "This manual provides operational policy and guidance on key topics related to eligibility and enrollment activities within the FFEs and FF-SHOPs, as well as within the SBEs-FP, which use the federal platform for eligibility and enrollment platforms.... The information provided in this document applies to organizations and entities that may be involved in or assist with enrolling a QI into a QHP and/or QDP using the FFE eligibility and enrollment functions.... The information provided in this document applies beginning with plan year 2019[.]"
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[Advert.]
The 31st Annual ECFC Symposium combines networking and professional development to provide those involved in healthcare consumerism with practical advice, education and updates on the regulatory front. |
![Sponsored by ECFC [Employers Council on Flexible Compensation]](https://benefitslink.com/bnrs/2016/ECFC_Symposium2018_top.jpg "Sponsored by ECFC [Employers Council on Flexible Compensation]")
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[Guidance Overview]
DOL Finalizes Rule for Association Health Plans "[H]ealth insurance issuers may not constitute or control a bona fide group or association in their capacity as health insurance issuers. However, health insurance issuers may act as employers in sponsoring an AHP for the benefit of their employees and may also provide administrative services to an AHP.... Sole proprietors and self-employed individuals will be eligible to participate in AHPs without the need to employ at least one other person."
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[Guidance Overview]
"The final rule will be applicable in three phases starting on September 1, 2018. This alert provides an overview of key aspects of the rule, with an emphasis on its nondiscrimination requirements, and highlights several clarifications or modifications to the proposed rule that the DOL made in the final rule."
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[Guidance Overview]
The Five Flavors of Employer Mandate Acknowledgment Letters "[T]hese IRS acknowledgment letters still aren't bills. Even though some of the letters say how an employer can pay the penalty, if the employer owes something, the employer will get a separate CP220J once the penalty has been assessed.... The appeals process for these letters is more formal than the process for the Letter 226J, which usually just involves providing information."
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[Guidance Overview]
Garden State Plants Individual Healthcare Mandate; Insurance Market Harvest Uncertain "The New Jersey mandate for individual health coverage basically follows the structure of the federal healthcare mandate -- it requires individuals to have coverage or pay a tax penalty, with certain exceptions. There are, however, some notable differences. [1] Grandfathered plans do not count ... [2] Association/MEWA plan coverage may not count: ... [3] Allocation of penalty revenue: ... [4] NJ penalty conditioned on federal tax credits."
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[Advert.]
Employee Health, Benefits, & Well-Being Congress | July 30-31
Who is moving the needle on employee health care? This event convenes HR, benefits, and wellness executives, TPAs, Brokers, Payers, and Providers to learn and discuss strategies to enhance employee health and improve outcomes while reducing costs. |
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[Guidance Overview]
Revised Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Time Rules Give Employers Limited Time to Comply "[Washington's Office of Labor Standards (OLS)] has proposed further revisions... [specifically,] a rule concerning what constitutes 'normal hourly compensation' to be used to calculate pay when an employee takes PSST leave.... The PSST rules were adopted on June 4, 2018, giving employers less than one month to review and revise policies and practices, if necessary, by the time the revisions take effect on July 1, 2018."
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[Guidance Overview]
Duluth Diagnosed With Paid Sick Leave; Symptoms Begin 2020 "Duluth joins Minneapolis and St. Paul as the only municipalities in Minnesota to pass such an ordinance. The [Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2020.... Employers with five or more employees, which is measured by averaging the number of employees per week during the previous calendar year regardless of whether they work in Duluth, must provide paid sick and safe time to their Duluth employees."
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What is QSEHRA? A Practical Guide for Small Employers "To use a QSEHRA, a small business or non-profit must meet two primary requirements: [1] Be 'small' ... [2] Not have a group health plan ... To receive tax-free reimbursements from a QSEHRA, an employee must: [1] Be covered by an insurance plan ... [2] Submit a claim for reimbursement."
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Telemedicine: What's the Benefit? " 'Store and forward' telemedicine refers to the acquisition and storing of clinical information that is sent to another site for evaluation. This type of telemedicine is useful in the areas of radiology, dermatology and retinal imaging.... 'Remote monitoring' allows doctors and other medical professionals to monitor a patient remotely using technology.... 'Real-time medicine' is useful for those looking for an alternative to visiting the doctor's office."
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What's Driving Health Care Costs? "Based on data from 2015, there was no association between an increase in population-based [value-based payment (VBP)] and slowing of health care costs in a given market.... The question of 'what type of competition' in a market may be more important than 'how much' competition.... Lower-cost markets appear to benefit from organized mechanisms, including state-sponsored or endorsed reporting agencies, for more transparent sharing of information on provider quality and costs."
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Benefits in General |
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Cyber Liability Insurance for Employee Benefit Plans "Many [plan sponsors] are purchasing cyber liability insurance coverage to supplement their data security measures.... [M]any policies vest the decision to retain legal counsel in the insurer, rather than the policyholder.... Plan sponsors should also identify the plan's service providers who have access to PII and PHI and ensure that the plan's cyber liability policy covers those providers, or that those providers have their own cyber liability policies."
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New Plaintiffs' Firms Bring Increased ERISA Litigation Risks for Employers (PDF) "Until recently, a small group of specialized plaintiffs' firms has dominated the ERISA class action space, beginning with untested theories of liability that are eventually leveraged into portfolios of lawsuits. Those portfolios (and the plaintiffs' attorneys who created them) have become well-known. But an interesting trend has emerged in the day-to-day ERISA litigation docket: new plaintiffs' firms have begun to enter the space in a significant way. This development, which has significant implications for plan sponsors and fiduciaries, has been picking up significant speed in the last several months."
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Executive Compensation |
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[Guidance Overview]
Excise Tax Problems with Excess Executive Comp? Retirement Compensation May Help "Effective Jan. 1, 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created an excise tax ... to be imposed on tax-exempt organizations and governmental entities. At first glance, this section ... appears to target the highest paid employees at universities, colleges and hospitals, but because of the amounts that count toward the threshold and the number of employees that can trigger the excise tax, many unsuspecting entities are at risk. Fortunately, there may be opportunities to avoid these excise taxes through planning with retirement plans."
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Press Releases |
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PenChecks Trust, ASPPA Announce Annual QKA Scholarships Program
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Lynn A. Archer joins GreatBanc Trust Company
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Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2018 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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