The US Department of Labor recently released a report “Assessing the Quality of Employee Benefit Plan Audits.” In the report the EBSA (Employee Benefits Security Administration) revealed “serious issues with the current system.” According to Phyllis C. Borzi Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security “The existing patchwork of regulations
The majority of employers have not yet implemented a strategy to comply with new reporting requirements under the Federal health care reform law that took effect earlier this year. According to a recent survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Equifax Inc. only 10% of 480 employers surveyed indicated that they already
Insightful article by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, providing information about the Anthem cyber-attack and what employers should do. On Feb. 4, Anthem announced a data breach involving the personal information of more than 80 million individuals resulting from what it characterized as a sophisticated, targeted cyber-attack. Group health plans may be affected because Anthem:
On July 24, 2014, the IRS posted preliminary, unofficial drafts of forms that the ACA compels employers, plan administrators and employees to file, among other items, to certify coverages offered and provided to employees in 2015. They are Form 1094-B (“Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns”), Form 1094-C (“Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns”), Form
The IRS has threatened employers with ACA penalties of $100 per day, per employee, and non deductible or $36,500 per employee. This makes those $2,000 and $3,000 penalties look diminutive. Employers who maintain a "non-integrated" employer payment plans would be subject to these penalties. These would include HRAs, excluding retiree-only
Compliance with the Affordable Care Act just got a little more demanding for employers – determining which of your employees are full-time and which are not is now a major portion of the final Affordable Care Act regulations published February 2014 in the Federal Register. In order to determine whether an
Earlier this year, the agencies implementing the Affordable Care Act published a final rule that prohibits health plans and health insurers from applying any waiting period that exceeds 90 days (i.e., the waiting period that must pass before an individual is eligible to receive benefits under a health plan). In California
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Benefit education has long been considered a key component of a successful employee benefit program. However, engaging employees and helping them recognize the value of their program is not easy. It takes ongoing efforts of HR managers with support from senior management. The Affordable Care Act creates another new wrinkle for
May 23, 2013 was a historic day for California. Covered CA, the state Individual Health Insurance Exchange, announced its final plans, rates, and the rating regions. Finally shining a small light on what we can expect for next year, the press release made today gave us some answers, but not