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2 New Job Opportunities
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Reminds Employers That Educational Assistance Programs Can Still Be Used to Help Pay Off Workers' Student Loans
"Though educational assistance programs have been available for many years, the option to use them to pay for workers' student loans has only been available for payments made after March 27, 2020. Under current law, this student loan provision is set to expire
Dec. 31, 2025." MORE >>
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]
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Reminder for Employers: What to Do with Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Rebates
"Total MLR reimbursements are projected to be $1.1 billion in 2024, which is about the same level as last year.... If employees contributed to the total premium, then a portion of the MLR rebate will be considered to be an ERISA plan asset and can only be used to benefit
those participants, not the employer." MORE >>
OneDigital
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Mid-Size and Enterprise Insights: 2024 Benefits Benchmarks
"[C]ore benefits remain essential, with 93% of employers offering at least one benefit in each category (medical, dental, vision, life, short-term disability, and long-term disability) -- up 3% from last year.... HMO (health maintenance organization) offerings increased 10%
from last year.... 62% offer employee-only coverage at no cost for at least one medical plan, typically a high deductible health plan (HDHP)." MORE >>
Sequoia
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Since Passage of ACA, Number of Self-Insured Health Plans Increasing in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses But Decreasing in Large Companies
"Large firms (500 or more employees) are much more likely (74%) than small (16%) and medium-sized firms (32%) to self-insure at least one of their health plans.... Between 2010 and 2023, the percentage of small employers that self-insured at least one plan increased from 13% to
16%, medium-sized firms increased from 27% to 32% and large firms decreased from 82% to 74%." MORE >>
Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI]
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Conquer Annual Enrollment: Steps to Scale Your HR Everest
"[1] Strategic planning and data analysis ... [2] Customer service excellence ... [3] HR technology preparedness ... [4] Compliance and legal review ... [5] Communication and education strategy ... [6] Optimizing your
resources ... [7] Post-enrollment analysis.' MORE >>
bswift
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Employee-Approved Open Enrollment Themes
"Open enrollment themes make your benefits enrollment, education and engagement communications more eye-catching and memorable and are a step in the right direction." MORE >>
Benefitfocus
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Benefits in General |
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1 in 4 Companies Have Reduced Current Employees' Salaries; Half Have Cut Benefits
"The most common changes to employee benefits include reduced paid time off (PTO)/vacation days (23%), decreased or removed stock options/equity grants (21%), and reduced or eliminated meal allowances (20%). Additionally, companies have reduced or stopped 401k matching (19%),
employee wellness programs (19%), health care benefits (16%), and parental leave benefits (15%)." MORE >>
ResumeTemplates
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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Selected New Discussions |
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Compliance Testing for an Employee Owned Cooperative
"One of our clients is running into an issue with the testing due to being an employee-owned cooperative (we don't administer this plan, just their retirement plans). There are 17 employees and all are considered more than 5% owners due to the structure of the business. The
people doing the testing are saying they fail '25% Key Employee Test, 55% Average Benefit Test and 25% Owners Test, since by definition everyone is considered an owner and Key Employee. Do these tests apply to a Plan under this type of structure?"
BenefitsLink Message Boards
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HDHPs and Medicare's Simplified Determination of Creditable Coverage Status
"Does anyone know if CMS would consider an HSA-qualified HDHP to be an integrated plan (as defined by the Creditable Coverage Simplified Determination safe harbor)? I have been looking for an authoritative source that tells me how to apply the safe harbor criteria when
lifetime and annual limits for EHBs are no longer allowed by the ACA. Is it safe to entirely disregard the integrated plan criteria solely because two of the three plan provisions are no longer valid for most plans? In other words, can an employer rely on the highlighted instructions and apply the non-integrated plan criteria to a plan with a combined plan year deductible if that plan no longer has combined annual and lifetime maximums per
the ACA? Per CMS simplified determination method: Integrated Plan -- An integrated plan is any plan of
benefits that is offered to a Medicare eligible individual where the prescription drug benefit is combined with other coverage offered by the entity (i.e., medical, dental, vision, etc.) and the plan has all of the following plan provisions: [1] a combined plan year deductible for all benefits under the plan, 2) a combined annual benefit maximum for all benefits under the plan, and [3] a combined lifetime benefit
maximum for all benefits under the plan. A prescription drug plan that meets the above parameters is considered an integrated plan for the purpose of using the simplified method and would have to meet steps 1, 2, 3 and 4(c) of the simplified method. If it
does not meet all of the criteria, then it is not considered to be an integrated plan and would have to meet steps 1, 2, 3 and either 4(a) or 4(b)."
BenefitsLink Message Boards
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Press Releases |
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Blank Rome Welcomes Benefits & Executive Compensation Associate Stephen M. Pennartz in Philadelphia
Blank Rome LLP
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Webcasts and Conferences
(Health & Welfare Plans) |
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Celebrating 50 Years of ERISA: An Interview With Phyllis Borzi
August 29, 2024 WEBINAR
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]
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PFML Laws through 2026: An Update for Multi-State Employers
September 12, 2024 WEBINAR
Disability Management Employer Coalition [DMEC]
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New President, New Congress: Health Policy Implications of the 2024 Elections for Providers and Health Plans
September 18, 2024 WEBINAR
Faegre Drinker
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Happy Hour Chats with Savoy
September 18, 2024 WEBINAR
Savoy
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The Future of Telehealth and Its Impact on Primary Care
September 24, 2024 WEBINAR
Health Affairs
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Last Issue's Most Popular Items |
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Post-Chevron World: Employee Benefits Cases and Areas of Law to Watch
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
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Many Medicare Beneficiaries Will Spend Less Than Expected to Reach New $2,000 Out-of-Pocket Spending Limit
Milliman
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Do I Need a Wrap Document for My Health and Welfare Plans?
KLB Benefits Law Group
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Copyright 2024 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.
BenefitsLink® Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595.
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