Jobs
ERISA Compliance Associate
Slevin & Hart, P.C.
in DC
Senior Client Executive (R20010915)
Transamerica
in IL, WI, Telecommute
401(k) Account Manager
Presidio Wealth Management
in UT
Webcasts, Conferences
Open Enrollment Best Practices
April 5, 2018 in MD
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Baltimore Chapter
Employee Surveys and Best Practices
April 10, 2018 in MO
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - St. Louis Chapter
Chronic Pain?s Impact on our Workforce
April 19, 2018 in AZ
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Phoenix Chapter
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): Compliance Obligations Under the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA
May 30, 2018 WEBCAST
Lorman Education Services
Discussions
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Text of CMS FAQ for User Fee Adjustment (PDF)
"[A]ny FFE issuer that qualified for a reduction to its FFE user fee for a benefit year, irrespective of whether it is currently on the FFE, may direct CMS to apply a reduction equal to any outstanding adjustment amount to another issuer that currently operates on the FFE. CMS will effectuate the user fee adjustment for any applicable newly identified FFE issuer in the next applicable monthly payment cycle." [Editor's note: the date of the letter is March 23, 2018 according to the CMS web page
.]
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]
Online Learning Course: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Learn how to avoid common administration mistakes, implement best practices and be aware of interactions with other laws.
IRS Reduces 2018 Limits for HSAs, Adoption Assistance Programs
"Using the chained CPI also will lower the threshold for the so-called Cadillac tax ... the cap on salary reduction contributions to health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) and transit benefits. However, Rev. Proc. 2018-18
does not address those limits."
Willis Towers Watson
HSA Eligibility Unaffected by Insured HDHP First-Dollar Coverage of Male Sterilization Until 2020
"Because male contraceptives are not considered preventive care under IRS rules, [state] laws could potentially affect the HSA eligibility of individuals covered under high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) subject to those mandates. The IRS recently provided transitional relief, until 2020, for individuals enrolled in plans that would otherwise qualify as HSA-compatible HDHPs except that they provide for coverage of male sterilization or male contraceptives before the deductible is satisfied."
Conduent
Will American Businesses Ever Leave the Health Care World? (PDF)
13 pages. "Value (actual or perceived) versus cost (and availability) ... Organizational challenges in offering health care benefits ... The health care supply chain: a study in change ... Major constraints on eliminating employer-sponsored health care coverage ... Size matters (and so does labor content) ... Rapid cost growth ... Government policy changes: single-payer ... Miraculous improvement in the individual marketplace ... Changes in tax law and/or financial accounting."
American Health Policy Institute
Apple Plunges Into Health Care
"Apple and 13 prominent health systems, including prestigious centers like Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania, disclosed an agreement that would allow Apple to download onto its various devices the electronic health data of those systems' patients -- with patients' permission, of course. It could herald truly disruptive change in the U.S. health care system. The reason: It could liberate health care data for game-changing new uses, including empowering patients as never before."
The Commonwealth Fund
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MESA: An Innovative New Value-Based Health Insurance Plan
"The Medical Episode Spending Allowance (MESA) Plan [is] a new value-based insurance design with more finely calibrated incentives for consumers and providers. MESA takes value-based insurance design to a whole new level, improving quality of care while lowering costs."
Altarum Institute
ACA Analyses Show Health Insurers Finally Profiting, 20% Reversal of Coverage Gains, and Wealth Transfers Away from the Top 1%
"This post covers two new reports on insurer profitability in 2017 ( one of which
comes from the White House) and a new study that confirms that one-fifth of the coverage gains made between 2013 and 2016 have now been reversed. The post also highlights findings from a new report
from [CBO] on wealth transfers: on average, the ACA boosted household income for those with the lowest household income while reducing income for the highest-income households, especially those in the top 1 percent."
Katie Keith, in Health Affairs
The Impacts of Paid Family Leave Benefits: Evidence from California Administrative Data
"[The authors] use ten years of linked administrative data from California ... to estimate the causal impacts of benefits in the first state-level paid family leave program for women with earnings near the maximum benefit threshold.... [They assert they have found] consistent evidence that an increase in the WBA leads to a small increase in the share of quarters worked one to two years after the leave and a sizeable increase in the likelihood of making a future paid family leave claim across a variety of specifications."
National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER]; purchase required for full document
Press Releases
SageView Advisory Group Continues to Grow in Northern California SageView Advisory Group
July Business Services Taps Stadion?s StoryLine 401(k) Solution for Retirement Plan Platform July Business Services
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite HWinter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
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