|
Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter June 4, 2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Webcasts, Conferences Massachusetts Paid Family & Medical Leave
Annual Conference & Exposition
Health Benefits Laws Compliance Assistance Seminar
Financial Health in the Workplace: Defining and Implementing the Right Financial Wellness Program
Ascend Conference
OD Works! The Bermuda Triangle of Leave Laws: Just When You Thought it was Safe to go Back in the Water
|
|
Discussions |
|
This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
|
|
[Guidance Overview]
DOL Issues FAQs in Support of 'Pathway 1' Association Health Plans "Status as a bona fide association is a narrow exception to the general rule that treats associations as a collection of individual (generally, small) employers and not as a single (generally, large) employer. In a state that recognizes Pathway 1, there is no need to seek the DOL's opinion. Often, an association's claim to bona fide association status, backed up by an opinion of counsel, will suffice."
|
|
"The payment due for a given July 31 covers the plan year ending in the preceding calendar year (e.g., the fee payable by July 31, 2019 is for plan years ending in 2018). The PCORI fee will apply only to policy and plan years ending on or before Oct. 1, 2019. For plan years ending after Oct. 1, 2019, the PCORI fee will no longer apply."
|
|
Plan Sponsors Say Educating Employees About HSAs Is Top Concern "A quarter of organizations encourage or offer additional education to employees who do not contribute to the HSA or only contribute a nominal amount. The average participant contribution in 2018 was $2,595 and the average account balance at the end of 2018 was $5,239. The vast majority of responding organizations (85.6%) offer investment options for HSA contributions, though three-quarters require a minimum balance of at least $1,000 to invest assets beyond money market funds or cash."
|
|
New Family Leave Laws May Increase Stress on Co-Workers, Disrupt Business Operations "For men in [paid family leave (PFL)] states, bonding was the reason for FMLA leave more than twice as often as for men in non-PFL states. Men's bonding leave durations in PFL states were about 44% longer than in [unpaid family leave] states.... More than half of employees who experienced a co-worker's extended absence reported that staff took on the absent employee's responsibilities.... Adaptations such as having staff spend more time at work or perform an absent worker's responsibilities were significantly associated with greater personal consequences."
|
|
California Gov. Newsom Proposes Penalty to Fund Health Insurance Subsidies "Under a proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom, an estimated 850,000 Californians could get help paying their premiums, including people like Haas and Snyder, who together make too much to qualify for federal financial aid but still have trouble affording coverage. To pay for the health insurance tax credits, the Democratic governor is proposing a tax penalty on Californians who don't have health insurance -- similar to the unpopular federal penalty the Republican-controlled Congress eliminated, effective this year."
|
|
[Advert.]
Reading this on your mobile device? Get the BenefitsLink App!
Now available on Google Play and in the App Store, the free BenefitsLink mobile app includes all the same great content as the daily newsletter -- news, jobs, events, message boards -- at your fingertips when you're on the go. Download today! |
|
New York and New Jersey Consider Health Insurance Reforms "New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a slew of additional health insurance reform bills that would further defend the state-based health care plans and marketplace ... With these bills, New Jersey is working to create a comprehensive scheme of laws and regulations that will govern a state-based health care program. New York has also recently taken steps toward health insurance reform."
|
|
Benefits in General |
|
Deal-Breaking M&A Issues Related to Employee Benefit Plans and Executive Compensation "The list [in this article] is intended to facilitate the detection, negotiation, and resolution of possible employee benefit plan and executive compensation-related problems.... [S]ellers may defuse risks and streamline negotiations through proactive pre-sale planning.... [B]uyers may maximize their deal-related protections (and their post-closing alternatives) by assuring early stage attention to [these items]."
|
|
What is the Effect of Prohibited Transactions on the EBP Audit Opinion? "If a prohibited transaction with a party in interest is not properly reported, the auditor will modify the auditor's opinion on the ERISA-required supplemental schedule if the effect of the transaction is material to the plan's financial statements. Conversely, if the effect of the prohibited transaction is not material to the financial statements, the auditor will include an additional discussion describing the prohibited transaction in an "Other Matters" paragraph in the auditor's report on the ERISA-required supplemental schedules."
|
|
Press Releases |
|
Jackson Lewis Adds Benefits Attorney Miriam R. Schindel in White Plains
|
|
RCM&D is Certified for Fiduciary Excellence
|
|
Ubiquity Retirement + Savings Introduces CensiblyYours Financial Wellness Tools
|
|
Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
Connect
|
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 2019 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.
Links to web sites other than BenefitsLink.com and EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com are offered as a service to our readers; we were not involved in their production and are not responsible for their content.