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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter September 3, 2020 |
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Newly Posted Open Enrollment in a New Reality
HRA Webinar
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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[Guidance Overview]
15-page hyperlinked list of administrative materials, organized by jurisdiction, issued by state insurance departments to provide guidance to both the insurance industry and consumers relating to health insurance coverage and COVID-19. Sidley Austin LLP |
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[Guidance Overview]
"Employers with an insured plan that currently have an exemption for the period beginning October 1, 2019, and ending September 30, 2020, have had their private plan exemptions extended through December 31, 2020. Because of this extension, applications for renewal of the exemption will not be accepted before November 30, 2020. There is no extension of the exemption for employers with self-insured plans, so their exemptions are still due to expire on September 30, 2020." The Wagner Law Group |
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"Today, ... [CMS] launched Care Compare ... [which] provides a single user-friendly interface that patients and caregivers can use to make informed decisions about healthcare based on cost, quality of care, volume of services, and other data. With just one click, patients can find information that is easy to understand about doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care services instead of searching through multiple tools." Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] |
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"The COVID-19 pandemic promises to constrain budgets while driving healthcare costs even higher.... [One analysis] projects that rising healthcare claims could drive benefits cost increases as high as 7 percent -- outpacing the 5 percent increase previously anticipated for the year.... [1] Create a culture of wellbeing ... [2] Help your people make better benefits decisions ... [3] Evaluate your programs with data ... [4] implement cost-saving strategies in your benefits program." HealthEquity |
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"80% of enrollees in the individual and fully insured group insurance markets were in plans that voluntarily waived out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 at some point during the pandemic.... 20% of individual and fully insured group plan enrollees are in plans where a cost-sharing waiver for COVID-19 treatment has already expired, and another 16% are in plans where the waiver is scheduled to expire by the end of September." AISHealth |
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"The Summer 2020 OCR Cybersecurity Newsletter ... describes how the IT asset inventory can improve an organization's risk analysis through increased understanding of how electronic PHI is created and enters, flows through, and leaves the organization. The newsletter explains that it may also be beneficial for the inventory to include assets that do not store or process PHI since those assets may present a method for intrusion into IT systems." Thomson Reuters / EBIA |
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Press Releases |
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Rachel Leiser Levy selected as new Associate Chief Counsel Employee Benefits, Exempt Organizations and Employment Taxes
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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Mental Health Parity -- Why Is Something So Important So Hard?
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Text of IRS Request for Comments on Proposed Changes to 2021 Form 5500
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