|
Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter August 29, 2019 |
|
|
|
|
Webcasts, Conferences Referenced Based Pricing
6 Myths of Happy People and What This Means for Your Workforce
Big Shots and Brews: An Evening with NEO's Employee Benefits Leaders
|
|
Discussions |
|
This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
|
|
What Employers Should Know About Individual Coverage HRAs "ICHRAs are an alternative to traditional group health plan coverage ... Employers can offer different ICHRA coverage to different classes of employees ... There is no dollar limit on an employer's annual contribution to an employee's ICHRA ... An ICHRA can satisfy the Employer Mandate under the ACA ... ICHRA must provide notice to employees describing the ICHRA and the interaction of the ICHRA and the ACA premium tax credit ... ICHRAs are not subject to ERISA if certain requirements are met." Thompson Coburn |
|
[Advert.]
Now is a great time to join Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network represents more than 30 areas of expertise within the Benefits Industry. Join today. |
|
Plans Need Not Count Drug Manufacturer Coupons Toward the ACA's Cost-Sharing Annual Limits "The Departments acknowledged that interpreting the final rule to require drug manufacturer coupons to count toward the ACA's cost-sharing limits could conflict with prior IRS guidance on high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs).... As a result, the final rule's provision on counting drug manufacturers' coupons could make it difficult for plans and insurers to comply with both the final rule and the prior HDHP rules." Thomson Reuters Practical Law |
|
How a Union's Plan Could Foreshadow Changes in Maternity Care Nationwide "An SEIU health fund is expected to request that area hospital systems provide information on rates of maternal harm and apply to a newly created program promising higher-quality, higher-value care ... More employers could be expected to implement both episodic payment models for pregnancy and non-payment for elective, pre-term C-sections. This change will shift services from higher-reimbursing C-sections to lower-paying normal deliveries." Healthcare Financial Management Association [HFMA] |
|
Third Circuit Upholds Decision Blocking Administration's Birth Control Rules "A Third Circuit appeals panel upheld the lower court ruling ... [which] grants a nationwide preliminary injunction against the religious and moral exemptions for employers to the ACA’s birth control mandate, so employers may want to take a cautious approach toward limiting contraceptive coverage." [Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. President United States of America, No. 17-3752 (3d Cir. Jul. 12, 2019)] McDermott Will & Emery |
|
Relief Coming for Parking Expenses? Not-for-Profits Hold Out Hope "Until further guidance comes, the only relief available to not-for-profits is a temporary respite from potential penalties for failure to timely deposit estimated taxes.... The calculation of total parking expenses, not the UBTI inclusion itself, is often the most burdensome task. The IRS is considering various methods to simplify this calculation." CBIZ |
|
[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 Boosts Job, Leave Rights for Domestic Violence Victims "Employers will have to provide reasonable time off to victims of domestic violence ... Employers can require use of paid leave first ... Domestic violence victims who have no paid leave available may take unpaid leave. Health insurance must continue during the leave." Mercer |
|
New York State to Require Reasonable Accommodation for Victims of Domestic Violence "New York State employers will now be required to grant employees who are victims of domestic violence reasonable time off ... to: [1] seek medical attention for injuries caused by domestic violence; [2] obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crisis center or obtain psychological counseling; [3] participate in safety planning or to take other actions to increase safety from future incidents of domestic violence; and/or [4] obtain legal services, assist in the prosecution of the offense, or appear in court in relation to the incident of domestic violence." Proskauer |
|
Consequences of Attendance and Point Reduction Policies for Employers "Although employers likely intend for no-fault attendance policies and point reduction schedules to be black and white, employment statutes such as the [FMLA] can easily bring them into a more complicated gray area in which their validity is questionable." [Dyer v. Ventra Sandusky, No. 18-3802 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2019)] Bradley |
|
DOL Seeks to Improve Employers' FMLA Forms "The proposed revisions aim to improve FMLA compliance and administration by making the forms easier to understand and use ... The DOL anticipates that the revisions will ultimately improve customer service and reduce the burden on the public." Ballard Spahr LLP |
|
[Opinion]
Reforming the IRS Employer Reporting System: Tax Form 1095, Tax Letter 226-J (PDF) "S. 2366 / H.R. 4070 provides individual consumers with much-needed safety nets, employers with relief from the burdensome reporting requirements, and state and federal Exchanges with an additional tool to verify tax credit and subsidy eligibility." Partnership for Employer Sponsored Coverage [P4ESC] |
|
Press Releases |
|
ICI Names Thomas T. Kim Managing Director of IDC
|
|
PSCA Survey Finds a Shift in Focus for Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans
|
|
Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
|
2020 Drug Coupon Rule Dropped Due to Implementation Concerns
|
|
HHS Walks Back New Policy on Drug Coupons
|
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.