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Empower Retirement
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The Retirement Plan Company
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AIG
in CO, DC, FL, GA, MD, NJ, TX, VA

Senior Defined Contribution Consultant
Aon Hewitt
in CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, MN, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, WA

Regulatory Services Specialist
OneAmerica Financial Partners
in IN

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Alerus Financial
in MI, PA

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Alerus Financial
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Ethics: A Continuous Process
September 17, 2015 in PA
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Greater Philadelphia)

DB Plan Update
September 23, 2015 in MO
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Gateway St. Louis)

Making Plan Committee Meetings Truly Work ? Workshopping Real Problems with Real Solutions
September 29, 2015 WEBCAST
(EACH Enterprise)

Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans
October 6, 2015 in NC
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

White House Fact Sheet: Helping Middle-Class Families Get Ahead by Expanding Paid Sick Leave
"The Executive Order ... will: [1] Give approximately 300,000 people working on federal contracts the new ability to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave each year.... [2] Allow workers to use paid sick leave to care for themselves, a family member, such as a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner, or another loved one ... [3] Improve the health and performance of employees of federal contractors and bring benefits packages offered by federal contractors in line with leading firms ... [4] Protect the public health of employees of federal contractors, their customers, and clients by ensuring employees are allowed to stay home when they have communicable diseases." (The White House Blog)

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Legal Review of Health Plan Documents, Processes Needed to Mitigate Employer's Excise Tax and Other Health Plan Risks
"The new self-reporting and excise tax self-assessment and payment requirements for employers coupled with already long-standing fiduciary and other liabilities for fiduciaries, plan administrators and others makes it important that employers sponsoring group health plans and their management or other leaders overseeing or participating in plan design or vendor selection, plan administration or other plan related activities seek the advice and help of qualified, experienced legal counsel for assistance with conducting an appropriate compliance review and risk assessment of their health plans, correcting or taking other steps to mitigate risks from any past or existing violations, and steps to take to tighten documents, vendor contracts, and processes to mitigate compliance or other risks going forward." (Solutions Law Press)

TIGTA Report on ACA Coverage Data Repository: Risks with Systems Development and Deployment (PDF)
45 pages. Dated June 2, 2015; released Sept. 8, 2015. "The IRS is developing the Coverage Data Repository (CDR) ... [which] will be the IRS's sole authoritative source of all ACA data for health care-related functions and services... TIGTA found that risks could not be effectively mitigated by CDR testing processes.... During project-level testing, system developers did not always demonstrate CDR functionality to business owners and did not maintain complete records verifying business participation. The CDR was deployed before responsible officials completely assessed security risks and authorized the system to operate. The CDR Application Audit Plan was not implemented as needed to support the IRS's program and policy to mitigate risks for unauthorized access to taxpayers' records." (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration [TIGTA])

IRS Withdraws, Re-Proposes Minimum Value Rules to Align With Previous Guidance
"The re-proposed regulation represents another step by the IRS to close a perceived loophole that allowed certain plans to technically satisfy minimum value without providing fundamental benefits that historically have been included in employer-sponsored health plans. This proposed change would harmonize the rules on minimum value but leaves unsettled the question of what constitutes 'substantial coverage' of inpatient hospital and physician services. The IRS requests comments on this point." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

TPA with Absolute Claims Discretion Can Be Sued for Mental Health Parity Violations
"The Second Circuit has rejected a trial court's determination and ruled that group health plan participants, and an association of mental health care providers, can sue a self-insured health plan's [TPA] under ERISA for mental health parity violations. The case arose from the TPA's application of certain preauthorization and concurrent review policies to mental health claims but not to medical claims.... These cases remind TPAs, plan sponsors, and insurers that a thorough analysis -- of not only plan or policy provisions, but also administrative practices -- is necessary to ensure parity with respect to nonquantitative treatment limitations. " [ N.Y. State Psychiatric Ass'n v. UnitedHealth Grp. , No. 14-20-cv (2d Cir. Aug. 20, 2015)] (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

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Register for NBCH's 20th Annual Conference, Nov. 16-18 in Dallas

This must-attend event convenes employers, health plans, providers, business health coalitions and other key stakeholders focused on the future of health care and benefits. Free admission for employers that are members of an NBCH coalition. Join us.

Employers Launch Worksite Clinics Despite ACA Uncertainty
"29% of employers with 5,000 or more employees provided an onsite or near-site clinic offering primary care services, up from 24% in the prior year.... 72% of those whose clinics provide general medical services said that managing employee health risk and chronic conditions is an important objective for the clinic." (Mercer/Signal)

Assessing Incentives for Adverse Selection in Health Plan Payment Systems
"Health insurance markets face two forms of adverse selection problems. On the demand side, adverse selection leads to plan price distortions and inefficient sorting of consumers across health plans. On the supply side, adverse selection creates incentives for plans to inefficiently distort benefits to attract profitable enrollees. These problems can be addressed by features of health plan payment systems such as reinsurance, risk adjustment, and premium categories.... [In] protecting against both types of selection problems, a payment system that incorporates reinsurance and prospective risk adjustment out-performs the planned payment system which includes only concurrent risk adjustment." (National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER])

Paying for Telemedicine
"[D]espite the push for increased telehealth 'parity' (reimbursing telehealth services in an equivalent fashion to an in-person appointment), we know that suddenly reimbursing all telehealth exactly like in-person visits is dangerous.... A simple fee-for-service model would likely lead to increased use of telehealth, but it could also lead to overuse, and the care received might well be lower value." (RAND Corporation)

Analysis of Potential Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana Mergers
"The combined impact of proposed mergers among four of the nation's largest health insurance companies would exceed federal antitrust guidelines designed to preserve competition in as many as 97 metropolitan areas within 17 states ... For these locations, the mergers would enhance market power.... The mergers would also raise significant competitive concerns in additional markets. All told, the two mergers would diminish competition in up to 154 metropolitan areas within 23 states." (American Medical Association [AMA])

Big Leaps for Parental Leave, But Will Workers Take It?
"The trend may be a sign of a tightening job market, at least for a certain segment of highly skilled performers. But it also raises the question of whether these new benefits will be more talked up than actually taken. Employees may wonder if doing so is acceptable or if it could hurt their careers. At many companies, the new benefits are at odds with a highly demanding, 24/7 workplace culture -- a culture that starts from the top." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)

Diagnosing the State of Vehicle Benefits
"Vehicle-related benefits are far more prevalent among American companies than among their foreign brethren: 74 percent of U.S. companies surveyed offer them, compared to 24 percent in Canada, 21 percent in Western Europe and 20 percent in the U.K." (HRE Daily)

Regulation of Insurance with Adverse Selection and Switching Costs: Evidence from Medicare Part D
"[In] Part D, switching costs help sustain an adversely-selected equilibrium and are likely to mute the ability of ACA policies to improve risk allocation across contracts, leading to higher premiums for some enrollees.... [O]verall, decreasing the cost of active decision-making in the Part D environment could lead to a substantial gain in consumer surplus of on average $400-$600 per capita, which is around 20%-30% of average annual per capita drug spending." (National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER])

Worst-Case Scenario for Medicare Premium Hike in 2016
"The recently released 2015 Social Security and Medicare Trustees report projected a 52% increase in Medicare Part B premiums for 2016.... But because about 70% of retirees are protected by the hold harmless provision, the burden of any increased premium must be borne by just 30% of beneficiaries." (Investment News)

Deal Requires California State Workers to Pay Ahead for Retiree Health Care
"Gov. Jerry Brown's administration has reached a tentative deal with a key employee union that would require state engineers to contribute toward their retirement health care benefits, likely establishing a template that will be applied to other state employee unions to help reduce a growing financial liability. Under the three-year agreement ... the Professional Engineers in California Government in mid-2017 would have to begin paying one-half of 1 percent of their pre-tax salaries into a fund to chip away at the fiscal millstone." (The Sacramento Bee)

Which Will Better Serve Your Business: A Broker or an Actuarial Consultant?
"Your objective is to control costs, yet a reduction in your costs (premiums) lowers your broker's commission income.... [And] your costs increase each year in proportion to your rate increases. Commissions also grow as your company grows. In contrast, consultant fees do not rise in tandem with your premiums or number of employees.... Most brokers will assist their clients in complying with ACA regulations, but will not take the extra step of determining the best options for an individual company." (Marsh Consulting Group)

ERISA Advisory Council to Hold Teleconference Meeting on September 30
"[T]he 178th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held as a teleconference on September 30, 2015.... The purpose of the open meeting is to discuss reports/recommendations for the Secretary of Labor on the issues of [1] Model Notices and Plan Sponsor Education on Lifetime Plan Participation and [2] Model Notices and Disclosures for Pension Risk Transfers." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])

How to Talk to Executives About Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
"Keep things simple.... A central point is tax deferral.... Plans can help with other life events.... Review plans in relationship to stock compensation.... Know distribution dates and options.... Consider a fixed-rate vehicle.... Gauge retirement replacement income.... Continuous communication is important." (CFO)

PBGC, Sears Holdings Corp. Enter Into Plan Protection Arrangement PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation]

National Business Group on Health Accepting Applications from Health Care Startups for Next Round of Health Innovations Forum National Business Group on Health

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