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Bipartisan Budget Act Breakdown
March 2, 2018 WEBCAST
McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018: Examining the Many Healthcare Provisions of a Law that Was Not Supposed to be About Healthcare
March 12, 2018 WEBCAST
Practising Law Institute

New Rules: How Does the New Tax Bill Impact You, Your Company and Your Company?s Benefit Plans?
March 15, 2018 in GA
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Atlanta Chapter

Evaluating Your Third-Party Administrator: Are You Getting What You're Paying For?
May 2, 2018 WEBCAST
Lorman Education Services

2018 New Orleans Mid-Sized Retirement & Healthcare Plan Management Conference
May 6, 2018 in LA
University Conference Services

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Text of IRS Final Regs: Health Insurance Providers Fee
"This document contains final regulations that provide rules for the definition of a covered entity for purposes of the fee imposed by section 9010 of the [ACA]. The final regulations supersede and adopt the text of temporary regulations that provide rules for the definition of a covered entity. The final regulations affect persons engaged in the business of providing health insurance for United States health risks."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Free Whitepaper: New Innovation in Health Benefits Design

How do self-insured employers avoid the high risks and costs of poor quality surgery outcomes for employees? Use surgeon-level outcomes data and a quality-first approach to benefits design for smart provider-partner selections. Get the whitepaper.

Austin, Texas Enacts Paid Sick and Safe Leave Law
"The Austin, Texas City Council has enacted a paid sick and safe leave ordinance, becoming the first southern city to pass such a law for private sector employees. The ordinance will take effect on October 1, 2018 for employers with five or more employees; coverage for smaller employers begins on October 1, 2020."
Proskauer

Supreme Court Provides Good News for Sponsors of Union Retiree Medical Benefit Plans
"[T]he Supreme Court again admonished the Sixth Circuit not to rely on inferences. The Court held that a contract is not ambiguous unless it is subject, by its terms, to multiple interpretations and that the Sixth Circuit -- which was unique in its approach -- erred in its reliance on special inferences in favor of retirees." [ CNH Industrial N.V. v. Reese , No. 17-515 (U.S. Feb. 20, 2018, per curiam)]
Mayer Brown

Court Requires Health Plan to Cover Residential Treatment Expenses Incurred Before Mental Health Parity Final Rules
"The court rejected the insurer's argument, concluding that the agencies considered skilled nursing facilities, which were covered by the plan, to be analogous to residential treatment centers even before they issued the final regulations.... Other courts have come to a different conclusion on the effect of the interim final mental health parity regulations on residential treatment limitations." [ B.D. and S.D. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Ga. , No. 16-099 (D. Utah Jan. 31, 2018)]
Thomson Reuters / EBIA

Are the Section 1557 Language-Assistance Requirements the Same as the Requirements for SBCs and Claims?
"Each of these rules (Section 1557, SBC, and claims and appeals) requires language assistance to be made available for those with limited English proficiency. However, these requirements vary in applicability and scope. Here's a summary of the requirements, including who must comply[.]"
Thomson Reuters / EBIA

ACA Reporting Requirements and Lessons Learned

March 5 webinar. Despite the uncertainty of the ACA's future it remains the law of the land. This webinar covers lessons learned from the past two years and identifies focus areas to prevent problems next year. CE credits. Discount for BenefitsLink readers .

Is This the End of 'Guidance Documents'?
"What [a recent] DOJ memo means is that DOJ lawyers cannot, in essence, take informal guidance documents (which are roughly the equivalent of the ACA FAQs) and turn them into binding rules. Instead, the lawyers have to prove that a person violated a statute passed by Congress or a regulation that went through formal notice-and-comment rulemaking to show a legal violation.... [M]ere guidance posted on a department's website will not, by itself, be enough to demonstrate a legal violation. However, informal guidance documents can still be used to explain or interpret the law; they just cannot be used to impose new legal obligations."
HUB International

More Employees Enroll in HSAs for Long-Term Savings
"While paying for health care costs in retirement does not top the list of health care concerns overall, this financial burden holds prominence among employees' concerns for the future when compared to lifestyle expenses. Among those surveyed, 68.7% are more concerned about paying for insurance premiums and other medical expenses than they are about paying for lifestyle items like vehicles and housing in retirement. This is up from 63% last year."
PLANSPONSOR

Employer Health and Well-Being Initiatives Fall Short with Employees
"Employees in poor health are twice as likely to be disengaged at work and take almost three times as many days off as employees who are in very good health. The research shows employers have been using programs with significant financial incentives and believe employees are on board with this approach as 54% of employees say their employers should financially reward them for living a healthy lifestyle. Increasingly, though, employees say they would participate only if offered incentives: 46% currently versus 35% in 2011."
Willis Towers Watson

Will Employee Perks Survive the Tax Law?
"By effectively making those benefits more expensive, the 2017 tax act's adjustments may drive employers to allocate a larger portion of funds set aside for employee-related expenses to other benefits, such as health care, retirement, or student loan help, as a way to make their perks more tax-efficient[.]"
Bloomberg BNA

Association Health Plans and the Sale of Group Health Insurance 'Across State Lines'
"While the [DOL]'s proposed AHP regulation seeks to expand the reach of AHPs by encouraging small groups to band together to form larger, homogeneous risk pools, there is no shortage of state laws that seek to require small groups to remain a part of a single, state-wide, heterogeneous risk pool. There is no middle ground. If the Department of Labor's regulation is adopted as a final rule--and there is no reason to think that it will not be--this issue will likely have to be resolved by the courts."
Employment Matters, Mintz Levin

How CBO and Jct Analyze Major Proposals That Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage
"The undertaking is a joint effort: CBO takes the lead in estimating the changes in coverage, premiums, and federal spending, and JCT takes the lead in estimating the tax-related budgetary effects, including those related to changes in the exclusion for employment-based insurance and premium tax credits provided for coverage obtained in the health insurance marketplaces established under the ACA."
Congressional Budget Office [CBO]

Benefits and Compensation Changing Due to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Infographic. "[T]he most common changes organizations have made or are planning or considering include expanding personal financial planning, increasing 401(k) contributions, and increasing or accelerating pension plan contributions. Other potential changes include increasing the employer health care subsidy, reducing or holding flat the employee payroll deduction, or adding a new paid family leave program in accordance with the ... tax credit available for paid leave for certain employees."
Willis Towers Watson

Recent UBIT Change May Impact Benefit Plans as Investors
"Effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, benefit plans with two or more unrelated trade or businesses will no longer be able to 'net' the income and losses of the businesses when determining the UBIT.... Many investment funds generate tax losses in early years, and with regular turnover of investments, UBIT can often be deferred for many years. Thus, the potential impact of the law could be significant."
Groom Law Group

Insights Into Tax Reform's Radical New Game Plan for Tax Exempt Organizations (PDF)
"[O]rganizations operated without an expectation of retaining profits may now find themselves subject to either complying with the new compensation limit or paying the tax. While the changes to the compensation limit for companies with publicly traded securities included a transition rule, ... the addition of this compensation limit to [non-profit] entities -- that had not faced this type of hard line limit -- did not provide for any transition for existing contracts."
Winstead PC, via Bloomberg Tax Daily Tax Report

U.S. Biopharma Companies Segment Long-Term Incentives by Function, with Focus on R&D
"LTI eligibility is high or even universal in all functional areas for roles with base salaries of $120,000 and above.... In the commercial, industrial affairs and support functions, LTI eligibility drops off materially below this level of base salary. In contrast, LTI eligibility tails off much more slowly in the R&D function ... [M]any biopharma companies are using LTI in a targeted fashion to boost their ability to attract, retain and engage R&D talent from a relatively early career stage."
Willis Towers Watson

Level Funded MEWA -- Can It Be Considered Fully Insured?
If a MEWA plan is level funded, can it possibly be considered fully insured? And if it has not existed for a year, does that give us any out from being considered a MEWA? Seller is part of a MEWA and hasn't been in compliance with state insurance laws.
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401k Averages Book Update Includes Fees for Plans with $100,000 Average Account Balances 401k Averages Book

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