Determining whether group health coverage provides “minimum value” is key to avoiding penalties under health reform’s premium tax credit program, so employers will likely welcome new proposed rules that further explain MV criteria. The proposal, to be published May 3…
Employer-sponsored plans that are secondary to Medicare are not subject to health reform’s expensive transitional reinsurance fee, nor are health flexible spending arrangements, health savings accounts and most health reimbursement arrangements. On March 11, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health…
Health reform’s final essential health benefits rule makes it clear that self-insured and large group health plans do not need to comply with limits on growth in employee cost-sharing, offer all 10 categories of essential health benefits, or meet actuarial…
Health reimbursement arrangements that are not integrated with group health coverage will violate health reform’s prohibition on annual benefit limits, the federal government recently clarified. HRAs that are integrated with individual policies will be seen as “nonintegrated,” thereby violating the…
On Jan. 1, employers in San Francisco will have to make sure that employee health reimbursement accounts the city requires them to fund are available to employees for two years, not just one. Amendments to the Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO)…
The year 2011 will soon be in the history books so it is not too early to work on the master “to do” list for 2012. Here are a dozen suggestions for benefits and insurance professionals who are involved with…
If you offer your employees health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), you know better than I that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) increased your administrative duties. But there’s good news, at least for some of you! The…
Does your computer’s spelling function auto-correct “HSA” to “HAS”? Mine used to, not recognizing that this abbreviation is no longer an error, but represents health savings accounts (HSAs), one type of consumer-directed health plan that is fast becoming mainstream in…