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ACA-Free Zone: Limited Wraparound Plan Comments

"Regulators want to keep insurers or other parties from using cleverly designed excepted benefits products that would create a new class of limited-benefit medical insurance plans that would be exempt from the PPACA annual benefits limits ... Medical insurers' lack of enthusiasm for, and understanding of, the proposed 'limited wraparound' benefits product line has surfaced in comments trade groups have filed in response to draft regulations released in December.... Health insurers are afraid the wraparound plans would disrupt the existing excepted benefits markets.... are afraid the wraparound products would suddenly turn a federal agency, OPM, into a major excepted benefits regulator.... [and] have no idea how federal regulators think the products would work."

Why Broker Health Plan Fee Agreements No Longer Work

"A carrier can retain 10 percent of the annual premium and pay a broker 5 percent. It can keep 11 percent and pay a broker 4 percent. It can keep 12 percent and pay a broker 3 percent, or it can keep 15 percent and pay the broker nothing. The idea that a broker can 'save' an employer money by going on a fee basis in the new world of health reform is, in and of itself, a demonstration of a lack of knowledge of PPACA.... In fact, a broker who works on a fee arrangement as opposed to a commission will end up costing an employer more. The employer will end up paying 15 percent overhead to the carrier and, in addition to that amount, the employer will pay another fee to the broker."

IT Strategist Says Health Insurance Exchanges Face More Pain

"[G]etting the public exchanges systems to work properly could take three to five years, in part because of the exchange systems will have to connect with what, at least for now, are antiquated systems that rely heavily on floppy disks and COBOL."

Retirement Saving Incentives Threatened in Budget Discussions

"Among the tax incentives on the table that could be reduced or eliminated: the tax-deferred status of the inside buildup of annuities and other retirement savings vehicles. Given that these incentives are helping Americans attain financial freedom and security during their retirement years, in no uncertain terms, this would be a retirement death."

More Boomers Encountering 'Unplanned' Early Retirement

"The prospect of an unplanned early retirement is real, and is happening more frequently since the US economic downturn. (This is consistent with results from prior surveys, where the percentage ranged from a low of 37% in 2007 to a high of 52% in 1991.) Advisors need to discuss with their clients the risk of early retirement as much as the desire for early retirement."

National Retirement Planning Week Announced

"National Retirement Planning Week 2012 will take place April 9 to 13, The Insured Retirment Institute announced[.]"

CCIIO Proposes HSA Plan Valuation Approach

The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has issued a bulletin that could affect the ability of personal health account programs to continue to operate after Jan. 1, 2014. Officials at CCIIO ... plan to include employer health savings account (HSA) annual contributions and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) contributions in actuarial value calculations, if the accounts are linked to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) ... [but is considering] leaving an individual's contributions to an HDHP-linked HSA out of the actuarial value calculations for that plan.

Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Picks Due Sept. 30

PPACA itself requires EHB packages to include some benefits not typically included in today's health insurance plans, such as pediatric dental services and pediatric vision testing services.

Employers: Employees Don't Understand Benefits

U.S. Financial Worries Rival Those of 1992, According to Gallup Poll

Americans' worries about maintaining their standard of living (51%), being able to pay medical bills (43%) or losing their job (34%) in the next 12 months are among the highest Gallup has measured in the past 20 years, on par with the levels seen in 1991 and 1992, Gallup says.