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Fringe Benefit Analysts® is a full-service insurance, consulting and employee benefits firm. We serve a wide range of businesses with best-in-class expertise, services and support for their benefit programs. Our clients are assured of accurate, consistent solutions, attention to detail, responsiveness and a high return-on-value for their benefits dollars. Fringe Benefits Analysts helps ‘calm the waters’ of the complex and sometimes overwhelming world of insurance benefits. Please enjoy our blog!
In a previous blog, we discussed the exorbitant cost of drugs, even generics and the tactics that the pharmacy industry employs to keep the costs high. Well, as the 1974 Bachman Turner Overdrive hit song goes, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!” Over the past few months, having participated in over a half-dozen health insurance meetings, […]
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) is a federal requirement of group health plans to provide COBRA insurance continuation coverage to participants who lose coverage due to a qualifying event, when the employer has 20 or more full time employees. Over the years, many states enacted additional requirements similar to COBRA, either for small employers, […]
Over the past few years, we have seen the cost of health care steadily increase – a trend supported by the latest data from the 2016 UBA Health Plan Survey. During the recession, employers implemented health plans with higher copays, higher deductibles, or offered multiple plans with a variety of deductibles and pushed the cost […]
A friend recently recounted to me his recent visit to the pharmacy needing to fill his Crestor® prescription to control his cholesterol. He was excited by the prospect of saving some money because Crestor® had recently gone generic and the cost should have dropped dramatically. He was shocked to find out that a 90-day supply […]
The transitional reinsurance fee (TRF) applies to fully insured and self-funded major medical plans for 2014, 2015, and 2016. The purpose of the fee is to provide funds to help stabilize premiums in the individual insurance market in view of uncertainty about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) would affect claims experience. […]
Following the November 2016 election, Donald Trump (R) will be sworn in as the next President of the United States on January 20, 2017. The Republicans will also have the majority in the Senate (51 Republican, 47 Democrat) and in the House of Representatives (238 Republicans, 191 Democrat). As a result, the political atmosphere is […]
The news of Donald Trump becoming our nation’s 45th President came as a complete shock to many in this country, yours truly included. Now that the dust has settled and this reality has sunk in, there are many questions to be asked. These relate to foreign policy, immigration reform and at least one Supreme Court […]
Though employers are not required to educate employees about their individual responsibilities under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is helpful to know about the individual mandate. The individual responsibility requirement (also known as the individual mandate) became effective for most people as of January 1, 2014. Under the individual mandate, most […]
In some of my previous blogs, the foundation of the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) continuation coverage was reviewed. Now that the groundwork has been laid, it is time to tread into the territories (or laws) where employers can lose their footing. The area covered in the following is that of the intersection […]
Employers that are subject to the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), Davis-Bacon Act (DBA), and Davis-Bacon Related Acts (Related Acts), and who are considered an applicable large employer (ALE) under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) must ensure that they meet the requirements of all three acts, despite the fact that the interplay […]
