Senior Defined Benefit Calculation Analyst
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in MA

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Target Date Funds: The Other 401(k) Scandal
January 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(Financial Planning Association)

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IRS Releases 2013 Form 8941 and Instructions for Claiming Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
"[I]mportant changes to the tax credit become effective beginning with 2014 taxable years: [1] the maximum credit amount increases from 35% to 50% of employer-paid premiums (and from 25% to 35% for tax-exempt eligible small employers); [2] coverage under a qualifying arrangement must be offered through a SHOP Exchange (with limited transitional relief for certain employers); [3] the credit can be claimed for only two consecutive years beginning in or after 2014; and [4] due to a cost-of-living adjustment, the tax credit will be reduced if an employer's average annual wages exceed $25,400 and will be eliminated if average annual wages exceed $50,800[.]" (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

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IHC FORUM & Expo - HealthCare Consumerism: The Solution for HealthCare Reform

The 2014 IHC FORUM & Expo conference is host to industry-wide collaboration and education during one of the most monumental shifts in our industry's history. May 7-9, 2014 - Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA LEARN MORE & REGISTER!

Implementation FAQs Address Out-of-Pocket Maximums, Expatriate Health Plans, Wellness Programs, and More
"[P]lans and insurers that intend to rely on the temporary relief for insured expatriate health plans should confirm that they satisfy the newly articulated definition. And the ability to divide the out-of-pocket maximum across multiple categories of benefits may prove useful (as an alternative to reconciling claims across multiple service providers) when the safe harbor for plans with multiple service providers ends." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Former HHS Secretary Forecasts 'Significant Growth' of Private Exchanges
"[P]rivate exchanges are well-positioned to become service providers of objective quality ratings, overall cost metrics (premium and out of pocket), as well as insurance coverage norms and standards across population segments. Benchmarking characteristics and frequency of certain plan products and standards could also become a value add such that participating health plans are better able to design products that are tailored to their target segments.... Benchmarking can be used to create additional data points to help employees make an informed plan/product choice." (HighRoads)

Rules for Equal Coverage by Employers Remain Elusive Under Health Law
"The Obama administration is delaying enforcement of another provision of the new health care law, one that prohibits employers from providing better health benefits to top executives than to other employees.... Officials at the [IRS] said they were wrestling with complicated questions like how to measure the value of employee health benefits, how to define 'highly compensated' and what exactly constitutes discrimination." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)

Health Exchanges See Little Progress on Uninsured
"Early signals suggest the majority of the 2.2 million people who sought to enroll in private insurance through new marketplaces through Dec. 28 were previously covered elsewhere, raising questions about how swiftly this part of the health overhaul will be able to make a significant dent in the number of uninsured.... The data, based on surveys of enrollees, are preliminary. But insurers say the tally of newly insured consumers is falling short of their expectations, a worrying trend for an industry looking to the law to expand the ranks of its customers" (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)

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ERISA Audits: What We All Knew but Forgot - Feb. 13 Webinar

Understand potential audit triggers and hot button areas, the scope of audits, what to expect in such audits, and best practices to avoid audit complications. Special BenefitsLink discount .

Deductibles in More Than One-Third of Small Group Health Plans Exceeded ACA Limits, Study Finds
"Ninety-six percent of Bronze plans in the Small Business Health Options (SHOP) Exchange had deductibles over the $2,000 cap set by the [ACA], according to a [recent] study ... [HHS] announced in February 2013 that these deductible limits could be waived in situations where a limit prevented a health plan from meeting its ratio of insurance payments to enrollee out-of-pocket costs under the ACA.... 28 percent of Silver plans had deductibles over the $2,000 cap, 6 percent of Gold plans had deductibles over the $2,000 cap, and 0 percent of Platinum plans had deductibles over the $2,000 cap. (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

ACA Has Potential to Limit a Defendant's Exposure for Future Medical Costs in New York Personal Injury Litigation
"If standard loss-allocation and mitigation rules are followed, the new law should have a significant impact on a personal injury plaintiff's ability to recover the cost of future medical care, thus limiting a defendant's exposure for such damages.... Even if a plaintiff has not yet purchased health insurance coverage under the [ACA], it should be assumed that he or she will do so ... [B]ecause a plaintiff has a duty to mitigate his or her damages, the courts should be encouraged to apply the law so as to avoid the inequitable result of a plaintiff receiving a double recovery." (Wilson Elser)

The Great ACO Debate: 2014 Edition
"ACO participation has almost quadrupled since spring 2012: More than 18% [of hospital executives] say their hospitals currently participate in an ACO, up from 4.8% in spring 2012. This growth is projected to accelerate, with about 50% of respondents suggesting their hospitals will participate in an ACO by the end of 2014. Overall, 3 out of 4 senior executives surveyed say their hospitals have ACO participation plans." (The Health Care Blog)

Marketplace Payment Processing: Technical Support for February Production Data, January 17, 2014 (PDF)
16 presentation slides. Update topics include: Stand-Alone Dental Plans, and Enrollment Issues. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

Options Exist for Employees Who Do Not Like Their Employers' Health Insurance Coverage
"What can an employee who gets employer-sponsored coverage at work, but does not like it, do? Now that the health insurance marketplace is up and running, can these employees obtain coverage via a state health insurance exchange? Can they go without insurance altogether and just pay the individual mandate penalty for failing to have insurance?" (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

CBO Report Says Boosting Military Retiree Health Costs Would Save Billions
"CBO looked at eliminating the TRICARE Prime option for working-age retirees as the department's most cost-effective option. Prime, the most expensive coverage option for the Pentagon, is the most popular enrollment plan, with 5.2 million participants. The approach examined by CBO would allow retirees younger than 62 years old to participate in TRICARE Standard or Extra coverage after paying an annual enrollment fee. That plan would reduce TRICARE outlays by $85 billion over the next 10 years[.]" (Government Executive)

Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data, 2013
"[This chartbook uses] data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to compare health care systems and performance on a range of topics, including spending, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceuticals, prevention, mortality, quality and safety, and prices. [The authors] present data across several industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Survey Data and Market Reports Say the Uninsured Are Not Signing Up for Obamacare
"If this keeps up there won't be a 'death spiral.' Heck, so far the insurers are just re-enrolling their old customers at higher rates! In addition, many of the 2.2 million exchange enrollees have not yet paid their premiums.... While we needed to do health insurance reform, why did we have to do it in a way that so disrupted the existing individual and small group market if the people it was supposed to benefit, the uninsured, weren't going to buying it?" (Bob Laszewski's Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)

Benefit Plans and Plan Distributions Exempt from New 'Net Investment Income' Tax (PDF)
"Highlights of the final rules are summarized [in this article], in question-and-answer format, as they apply to compensat[ion]-related and retirement income items (and earnings thereon). The final rules carry forward the general exemption of all benefit plan related income, and clarify several issues affecting ESOP distributions.... [T]he recently released draft instructions to new Form 8960 (which is used to calculate the new tax) could do a better job of making this clear -- the exemption for retirement plan amounts is noted only briefly in 19 pages of very dense instructions to the 1-page form." (Groom Law Group)

Incentive Stock Options and Employee Stock Purchase Plans: IRS Information Statements and Information Returns Under Section 6039
"[E]very corporation that in 2013 records ... the first transfer by an employee or former employee of stock acquired by such employee under an employee stock purchase plan (meaning a plan that is established under Section 423 of the Code, if the purchase price is either less than one hundred percent of the value of the stock on the grant date or is not fixed or determinable on the grant date) must, on or before January 31, 2014, furnish to the employee (or former employee) transferring the stock a written statement containing the information contained on Form 3922." (Cooley LLP)

Federal Courts and U.S. Attorney General Address Same-Sex Marriage in Utah and Oklahoma
"Some interesting eligibility issues arise for health and other non-retirement plans that define spouse with reference to whether an individual is married under the laws of a state or foreign country. The proper interpretation of such a definition is not entirely clear where, as here, the state in question does not recognize the marriage." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Annual Survey Underway to Benchmark Michigan Benefits Trends, Employers? Response to Health Care Reform McGraw Wentworth

Nation?s First Private Health Care Exchange for Pre- and Post-65 Retirees Enhanced to Offer More Choice, Stronger Consumer Support HR Policy Association

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