small businesses
As work and life continue to blend and unemployment remains low, the competition for employee talent is intense. Small businesses are seeking solutions to help their companies stand out as they tackle the challenge of attracting, engaging, and retaining employees.
Strategic benefits can play a pivotal role.
For small businesses, a great dental insurance plan makes your business more appealing to new hires — and keeps your employees smiling. In fact, 86% of small business employees say dental benefits are a must-have1.
But not all dental plans are created equal. You want a plan that provides your employees with high-quality, cost-effective coverage, easy access to updated treatments, reliable expertise and more.
Flexible Benefit Service LLC (Flex) is excited to tell you about the 21st Century Cures Act which was signed into law by President Obama on December 13, 2016. While the law primarily focuses on healthcare innovations and enhancing medical research, it also created a new type of Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), referred to as a "Qualified Small Employer HRA."
On April 1, 2014, President Obama signed into law the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014.” Although much of the law is designed to fix problems with the Medicare program, the law also included a repeal of the deductible limits that apply to small group health plans. In 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) established deductible limits for health plans offered to small employers (defined as up to 50 employees in most states).
The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is a part of the healthcare reform law that is supposed to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance coverage to employees. Last month it was announced that the SHOP Exchange would be delayed until November 2014; however, this statement requires clarification as some of the core features of the SHOP are still available.
Like the popular television commercials with children explaining their theories on what’s better (when asked if more is better than less), they want more. The concept is that simple. People, in general, do not want to settle for less.
Small businesses want more from a program that is named the Small Business Health Options Program or SHOP exchange. The government, however, has stripped away the “options” (at least for a year). If you’re a worker for a small business employer who is offered the SHOP exchange, you really don’t have anything to “shop” around for.
The Obama administration announced last week that parts of the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) would be delayed until 2015. This announcement has created a lot of confusion in the market.
The SHOP will be a new health insurance marketplace to provide exchange-based coverage to small businesses with up to 50 employees in most states. The SHOP is still expected to be launched as planned in 2014, but one of its key components will be delayed until 2015.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released final regulations on February 22, 2013 in regards to various health insurance market rules. The new guidance includes information about minimum participation requirements in the small employer marketplace. In most states, small employers are defined as those with 50 or fewer employees.
Insurance companies today require a minimum percentage of employees to enroll in coverage. This is referred to as the participation requirements and helps insurance companies avoid adverse selection. Minimum participation requirements can be up to 75% today.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted final regulations about the deductible and out-of-pocket limitations to the Federal Registrar on February 25, 2013. Section 1302(c) of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) specifies that the maximum deductible for a qualified insurance plan cannot exceed $2,000 for single coverage and $4,000 for family coverage.
Join Our Mailing List
Benefits Buzz RSS Feed