|
Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter February 19, 2020 |
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Webcasts, Conferences 2020 Employee Benefits Webinar
HIPAA Training for Employers: From Portability to Privacy
Healthcare Litigation Trends to Watch in 2020 and Beyond
|
||||||||||||
|
Discussions |
||||||||||||
|
This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
|
|
[Guidance Overview] The following percentages and dollar amounts have changed for 2020: [1] Cost-sharing limits; [2] Coverage affordability percentages; [3] Maximum penalties for ACA reporting violations; [4] Dollar amounts for calculating employer shared responsibility penalties; [5] Health flexible spending account (FSA) salary contribution limits. Benefit Revolution |
|
[Sponsored]
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. |
|
[Guidance Overview] CMS Proposes Penalty Rules for Group Health Plan Reporting of Medicare Secondary Payer Requirements "[C]ivil money penalties would be imposed with respect to [responsible reporting entities (RREs)] for group health plans in the following three situations: [1] An RRE fails to register and report as required under the MSP reporting rules. [2] The RRE reports as required, but the information reported exceeds certain error tolerances established by HHS in any four out of eight consecutive reporting periods. [3] The RRE contradicts information it previously reported, in response to CMS efforts to recover payments from the RRE." Thomson Reuters Practical Law |
||||||||||||||||||
|
SCOTUS Agrees to Take on ERISA Preemption Once Again "The Court's ruling ... should clarify whether the states have the right to regulate PBMs when servicing ERISA plans or, rather, whether such rights are more broadly prescribed by federal law than some previously thought.... [P]articularly with respect to the question of whether a state law interferes with uniform plan administration, questions have arisen regarding what constitutes plan administration for preemption purposes.... The Court's ruling ... may well answer this question one way or another. " [Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Mgmt. Assoc., Nos. 17-1609 and 17-1629 (8th Cir. June 8, 2018; cert. pet. granted Jan. 13, 2020)] Foley & Lardner LLP |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Healthcare Law and Policy Outlook for 2020 (PDF) 49 pages. "\This article summarizes expected 2020 compliance and policy developments affecting health and leave benefits and suggests action steps for employers. Topics include: [1] Regulatory outlook Prescription drug reforms, Transparency for group health plans, Other healthcare regulations; [2] Legislative outlook: Federal and state health and leave proposals; [3] Litigation and enforcement; [4] Behavioral health trends and wellness strategies] Mercer |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Availability of Flexible Work Schedule and Student Loan Repayment Benefits as of June 2019 "In June 2019, 3 percent of civilian workers (includes private industry, as well as state and local government workers) had access to student loan repayment and 11 percent had access to flexible work schedules." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Flexible Benefits in the Workplace "This factsheet summarizes coverage and features of flexible benefits, dependent care flexible spending accounts, and healthcare flexible spending accounts. These benefits are referred to as cafeteria benefits and provide employee benefit choices and flexibility. Similar to picking out an entrée, salad, dessert, and beverage in a lunchroom, cafeteria benefits allow employees to select healthcare, dependent care, and other benefit coverage." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] |
||||||||||||||||||
|
"Almost two-thirds (64%) of public sector workers said their financial security in retirement depends on the promise of employer-sponsored health care coverage. However, retiree health care is becoming an unsustainable financial burden on public sector organizations, with state unfunded retiree health care liabilities nationwide reaching $700 billion." Willis Towers Watson |
||||||||||||||||||
|
HSAs and Last-Minute 2019 Tax Deductions "You can still contribute to your health savings account for 2019 before April 15, 2020 (or before you file your taxes, whichever comes first) and count the contribution as a last-minute tax deduction toward your 2019 income tax filing." HealthEquity |
||||||||||||||||||
|
"[The authors] judged dozens of HSA account providers to pinpoint ones likely to best fit your health savings goals. HSA accounts were evaluated on ... investment quality and options, ... with special attention to fees." Investor's Business Daily |
||||||||||||||||||
|
[Opinion] Who Profits from Steep Medical Bills? "As the battle for revenue has heated up, each side has added weapons to capture more: Hospitals added facility fees and infusion charges. Insurers levied ever-rising copayments and deductibles. Most important, they limited the networks of providers to those that would accept the rates they were willing to pay.... [As] the scope and the scale of surprise bills have grown in the past five years, more people have experienced these costly, unpleasant surprises.... But no one in the health care sector wants to unilaterally make the type of big concessions that would change them." Kaiser Health News |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Benefits in General |
||||||||||||||||||
|
[Official Guidance] Instructions for IRS Form 2848: Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative (PDF) Rev. Feb. 2020. "Use Form 2848 to authorize an individual to represent you before the IRS.... Except as specified below or in other IRS guidance, this power of attorney authorizes the listed representative(s) to inspect and/or receive confidential tax information and to perform all acts (that is, sign agreements, consents, waivers, or other documents) that you can perform with respect to matters described in the power of attorney." [Also available: Form 2828 (Rev. Feb. 2020)] Internal Revenue Service [IRS] |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Despite Improvement in Their Financial Wellbeing, U.S. Workers Remain Worried "38% of employees live paycheck to paycheck. 39% of employees could not come up with $3,000 if an unexpected need arose within the next month.... 70% of employees are saving less for retirement than they think they should.... Seven in 10 employees (69%) who were given the most access to several tools and resources (four or more) said their finances are heading in the right direction versus just 51% who had no access to tools. Similarly, two-thirds (66%) of workers with the most access to financial management resources said these resources met their needs, compared to 39% with less access to resources." Willis Towers Watson |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Accounting and Financial Reporting Updated for Governments "On February 5, 2020, [GASB] issued Statement No. 92, Omnibus 2020 ... Statement No. 84, 'Fiduciary Activities,' requires a government to recognize a liability to the beneficiaries of a fiduciary activity when an event has occurred that compels the government to disburse fiduciary resources. The amendments clarify that this requirement also applies to assets that are accumulated for purposes of providing pensions or OPEB through defined benefit pension plans or defined benefit OPEB plans that aren't administered through trusts that meet the scope criteria of [GASB] Statement No. 73 ... and Statement No. 74 ... This amendment is effective for reporting periods beginning after June 15, 2020." Moss Adams LLP |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Press Releases |
||||||||||||||||||
|
A Veteran TRA Regional Sales Consultant Returns
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
Upcoming Events About Health & Welfare Plans |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
||||||||||||||||||
|
SECURE Act Makes Significant Changes to Benefit Plans
|
||||||||||||||||||
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
Article submission: Online form
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2020 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.