Employers
Many employers offer a cash payment to employees who waive health insurance coverage. These cash payments are always taxable to employees who waive health insurance coverage, but did you know employees who elect the health insurance coverage may be subject to paying taxes on the cash payment that they didn’t receive?
Wait! What?
It’s that time of year again. The days are getting shorter, the trees are mostly bare, the holidays are just around the corner and open enrollment is in full swing. If you’re like most benefits professionals, you probably head into open enrollment with a mixture of enthusiasm and dread.
On November 15th, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2018-57 which includes inflation adjustments for certain employee benefit programs and other items.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a research institute known as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The goal of PCORI is to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed decisions about healthcare choices. PCORI is funded by fees which are charged to health plans.
The following information is designed to help employers understand their upcoming payment obligations.
The Department of Labor (DoL), Department of Treasury (DoT) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have jointly proposed new rules that would impact Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) effective January 1, 2020.
Last week, the 2019 open enrollment period (OEP) season officially kicked off for Medicare beneficiaries. From October 15th to December 7th, Medicare beneficiaries can make changes or enroll in any Part D or Medicare Advantage plan that is available in their service area.
Below is a summary of OEPs for other market segments.
Each year employers must provide a written notice to Medicare-eligible employees who are covered under their group health plan. The notice must include information about the creditable coverage status of the prescription drug benefit. In other words, the notice tells employees if the prescription drug benefit on the group health plan is at least as good as the standard Medicare Part D plan.
Consumer-Driven Health Plans (CHDPs) have been steadily gaining in popularity for several years now. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2018 Annual Benefits Report, 40% of the employers surveyed now offer a CDHP to their employees. SHRM defines a CDHP as a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) or a Health Savings Account (HSA) paired with any underlying medical plan.
While we continue to hear about the rapid growth of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), there is one feature about Health Flexible Spending Accounts (Health FSAs) that keeps some employees enrolled in this type of consumer-driven account (CDA). That’ s the uniform coverage requirement of Health FSAs.
ERISA Section 607 defines the term group health plan as an employee welfare benefit plan providing “medical care” to participants or beneficiaries:
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