"Employers generally have three straightforward options to address missed Section 125 cafeteria plan contributions. However, if the missed contributions extend back to a prior plan year or the affected employee has terminated employment, the correction approach is somewhat more complex."  MORE >>

"In September 2021, the Allegheny County Council passed an ordinance compelling employers with 26 or more employees to provide their workers with paid sick leave. Although the rule took effect on December 15, 2021, fines and penalties for failing to adapt to the new rule will not be levied against employers until [December 15, 2022]."  MORE >>

"This reporting requirement is imposed on employers -- not insurers, TPAs, or group health plans.... The law applies to all employers, regardless of size, if they employ individuals in Illinois. The law does not require employers' plans to provide all of the EHBs offered under the Get Covered Illinois program, just to show the information in a format that facilitates an easy comparison."  MORE >>

"OPEB increasingly represents one of the major underfunded liabilities of government. In order for public agency management and decision-makers to more efficiently deal with the legal, financial, and political aspects of OPEB, it only makes sense to clarify and distill the agency's obligations in a comprehensive and up-to-date plan document."  MORE >>

"The main controversy over surprise billing legislation was never over the surprise bills themselves. Rather, the controversy was over determining how much insurers should pay for out-of-network care once patients are held harmless.... [It] is likely that the ban on surprise billing will in fact tilt the scale of market power away from physicians and hospitals and toward the payers of health care."  MORE >>

"In recent years, commercial health insurers' per-person spending on hospitals' and physicians' services has grown more quickly than analogous spending by the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program.... [C]ommercial insurers pay much higher prices for hospitals' and physicians' services than Medicare FFS does. In addition, the prices that commercial insurers pay hospitals are much higher than hospitals' costs."  MORE >>

"An alarming 1 in 4 American workers screened positive for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- up 54% in the past three months and up 136% when compared to pre-pandemic. Depression is surging -- up 87% since fall (63% higher than before COVID-19).... When looking specifically at men ages 40-59, general anxiety is up 94%."  MORE >>

18 pages; Jan. 20, 2022. "[CMS] is reissuing 2018 benefit year ... Risk Adjustment Data Validation results in response to a successful appeal ... which challenged the calculation of the 2018 benefit year error rates under the HHS-RADV error estimation methodology."  MORE >>

81 pages; Jan. 20, 2022. "CMS is releasing an updated version of the Summary Report of 2018 Benefit Year Risk Adjustment Data Validation Adjustments to Risk Adjustment Transfers that was originally released on August 18, 2020. The purpose of releasing this updated report is to describe the impact of the reissued 2018 benefit year HHS-RADV results on 2019 benefit year risk adjustment transfers."  MORE >>

"Under SAS 136, plan sponsors must acknowledge their responsibility for the plan's administration in the audit engagement letter ... [and] provide written representations at the end of the audit regarding their responsibilities.... Tips for working with benefits plan auditors[:] ... [1] Take a hard look at your auditors.... [2] Invest time and effort to prepare.... [3] Discuss the audit plan.... [4] Be available and involved during your audit.... [5] Seek actionable feedback from the audit report.... [6] Keep your auditors informed all year."  MORE >>