Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter

February 6, 2018

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Jobs

Retirement & Institutional Services Plan Analyst
BB&T
in NC, SC

Sr. Product Specialist, Wellness and Disease Management Programs
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association [NRECA]
in VA

Client Relationship Manager
Planning Solutions Group
in MD

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[Official Guidance]

IRS Q&As: Information Reporting by Employers on Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C
Updated Feb. 5, 2018. "These Q&As provide additional information about completing Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C for calendar year 2017 that are to be filed in 2018. The Q&As may be used in conjunction with the Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C , which provide detailed information about completing the forms."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

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[Official Guidance]

IRS Q&A: Corrected, Incorrect or Voided Forms 1095-A
"The information provided on this page relates to corrected or voided Forms 1095-A for tax years 2014 through 2017. There are differences amongst the years[.]"
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

Puerto Rico Bars Use of Legitimate Absences in Performance Review, Adds Catastrophic Illness Leave
"[Act 60] shields employees from adverse consequences from sick leave use. [Act 28] creates a special leave for catastrophic illnesses....Act 60's stated intent is to prohibit employer policies or practices that consider legitimate sick leave absences as criteria in evaluations, thus affecting the employee's opportunities for promotions or raises....Act 28 applies to both exempt and non-exempt employees, as well as temporary employees. The law will become effective on February 20, 2018."
Jackson Lewis P.C.

State Sick Leave Laws Raise Questions for Out-of-State Employers
"What if you are a Minnesota employer, yet you have one employee working remotely from Maryland? You aren't a Maryland employer, yet the [Maryland] law applies to employers 'with 14 or fewer employees.' Does your one employee who, arguably, is working in Maryland mean you are subject to the law? ... What if you are a Maryland employer with 12 workers in state, yet you have three remote workers in Delaware? In this case, it's clearer that the paid sick leave law applies to you -- after all, you are a Maryland employer -- but do you have 15 employees or not? Unfortunately, the law as drafted does not clearly answer these questions."
HR Daily Advisor

Improving Workplace Wellness
"In an ideal scenario, corporate wellness programs will always lower health costs, enhance productivity, boost employee engagement and reduce employee absenteeism and turnover.... A significant barrier is the ability to motivate behavior change, which influences everything from employees' daily health habits to their adoption of a wellness initiative. Fortunately, the field of behavioral economics offers new insights that can help address this challenge."
Human Resource Executive Online

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How Do Prescription Drugs Affect the Use of Other Health Services?
"Medicare Part D, introduced in 2006, has increased spending on prescription drugs for the elderly, but its impact on other health spending is unclear. The analysis addresses this issue by examining the use of other health care before and after Part D was introduced. The results show that the impact of Part D varied by the type of service: It significantly increased spending on office visits, for purposes such as monitoring the effects of the drugs. But it may have decreased spending on hospital visits by reducing the need for more intensive care, such as surgery."
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Two More Health Insurers Sue Over Halted CSR Payments
"South Dakota-based Sanford Health Plan ... is seeking $1.6 million, while the Montana Health CO-OP ... seeks $5.3 million ... Those lawsuits bring the total number of CSR-related suits against the Trump administration to four. Like the Montana Health CO-OP, the other two complainants -- Maine Community Health Options and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative -- are also consumer operated and oriented plans."
FierceHealthcare

New Risk-Adjustment Policies Reduce But Do Not Eliminate Special Enrollment Period Underpayment
"Using individual-market claims data for 2015 from two large carriers, [the authors] found that risk adjustment did, in fact, undercompensate plans for part-year members. However, underpayment was much larger for SEP enrollees than for part-year members who joined during open enrollment periods. Short-term, urgent health problems appeared to drive enrollment more for SEP enrollees than for part-year members who signed up during open enrollment."
Health Affairs

Executive Compensationand Nonqualified Plans

How Executive Compensation Changes Affect Employers
"As companies deal with this change, there are several issues they should consider. [1] Is grandfather relief available? ... [2] What's the administrative burden? ... [3] Could performance goals change?"
Bloomberg BNA

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2018 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.

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