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Many wellness programs start off with good intentions, offer some education and fun, but even after several years, have failed to meet their original goals or produce real culture change. We recently reviewed the first three steps to a successful, sustainable workplace program. Here we conclude with steps four through six for setting up a […]
Employers with self-insured health plans for health coverage are facing new Section 6055 regulations regarding the reporting of minimum essential coverage. The proposed regulation requires self-insured employers to report this information to the IRS on either Form 1095-B or in Part III of Form 1095-C, if the coverage is provided by an applicable large employer. Section 6055 […]
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has brought about many changes to the health insurance industry. As we are now in the sixth year of implementation of the Act, we are seeing more changes coming just around the corner. Generally speaking, most health plans can be classified into two categories: HMO and PPO. With an HMO […]
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established national standards to secure and protect the privacy of health information. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) requires the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to conduct audits of covered entities and business associates in […]
On December 1, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) will implement changes raising the minimum compensation for exempt employees to $47,476 annually. While salary is just half of a two-part equation that includes a duties test of essential job functions, scrutiny is under way to analyze compensation and find solutions to avoid conflict with the […]
Your new position just got approved and, finally, that mission-critical headcount addition is green-lighted. Celebration ensues until the actual work of finding the ideal candidate begins. The first step is to get a job description. In some cases, a perfectly vetted position analysis and description may exist, one that captures the particulars and purpose of […]
UBA’s compliance team leverages the collective expertise of its independent partner firms to advise 36,000 employers and their 5 million employees. Lately, a common question from employers is: How does an applicable large employer (ALE) determine whether or not a newly hired variable hour employee should be offered benefits? The answer depends on how the […]
Applicable large employers and self-funded employers of all sizes have now completed the first round of required IRS reporting under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA requires individuals to have health insurance, while applicable large employers (ALEs) are required to offer health insurance benefits to their full-time employees. In order for […]
Due to increased federal oversight, health insurance carriers currently have a lot less “wiggle room” than in the past to enroll employees beyond their official new hire enrollment periods. Local and national carriers frequently find themselves audited by one of several federal and state agencies to ensure that the carriers are consistently applying policies regarding […]
Beginning in 2017, certain employers with as few as 20 employees at a single site will be required to electronically file information about employee injuries and accidents that occurred in the prior year. This means that, for many employers, injuries and illnesses occurring in 2016 will be subject to this change. Employers of as few […]
Beginning in early 2016, many employers received letters from the IRS-SSA-CMS Data Match program. These letters are addressed to the employer and begin by stating that “Medicare needs your cooperation.” Employers are directed to report information on the IRS/SSA/CMS Data Match Secure Web Site (https://www.cob.cms.hhs.gov/DataMatch/). The data being requested is often extensive, and can cover […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a final rule implementing Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will take effect on July 18, 2016. If entities need to make changes to health insurance or group health plan benefit design as a result of this final rule […]
After a long wait, the Department of Labor (DOL) has released the revisions to the white collar overtime exemption rules in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new rule becomes effective on December 1, 2016. Generally speaking, the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to employees of “enterprises.” Enterprises are: 1. A federal, state, or local […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its 31st FAQ on the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), dedicated to coverage of preventive services, rescissions of coverage, out-of-network emergency services, clinical trial coverage, cost-sharing limitations, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act. Some highlights […]
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), members belonging to a certain number of organizations known as Health Care Sharing Ministries – sometimes called Christian Health Plans or Christian Ministries Plan were granted an exemption from the personal tax penalty (up to 2.5% of one’s household income in 2016 and beyond) for not having a qualified […]
In serving 36,000 employers and 5 million employees, our UBA Partners get this question frequently: What federal guidance prohibits employers from reimbursing individual health insurance policies? Answer: The IRS has issued extensive guidance prohibiting employers from reimbursing individual health insurance policies on an individual basis. It issued two notices in 2015 that addressed this issue. […]
In July of 2016, Utah will be seeing small group rates from some of the largest Utah health insurance carriers increasing 20% or more. Rates are just now being filed for 2017 and the indicators are not pretty. We are expecting to see an additional double digit increase in small group Utah health insurance plans, […]
As we mentioned in the first edition of this mini-series on the Federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), “marketplaces” or “exchanges” created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) did not make COBRA coverage obsolete. Rather, COBRA is still going strong. And while the general rule of COBRA coverage is […]
Not many things incite more fear than receiving a notice that you’re about to have an audit, especially from the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. It is headed […]
