While many employers might be “in the groove” of ACA compliance by now, this is no time to get complacent. There are more changes coming just around the corner in 2015 for those who sponsor group health plans.

Tags: benefits administration, ACA compliance, affordable care act compliance, COBRA solutions

COBRA CONUNDRUMS is reprinted from the July 2014 issue of Health Insurance Underwriter Magazine featuring our very own Robert Meyers.

Tags: cobra conundrums, cobra coverage, preexisting conditions

Remember why the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exists? One of its basic goals was to define a minimum standard for the benefits consumers receive when they sign up for health insurance. The intent is good, but it turns out there’s a problem. The online calculator that employers can use to determine if their plans meet ACA standards apparently has a glitch.

Tags: benefits administration, affordable care act, health insurance

Here’s another insightful Affordable Care Act update from our friend Jason M. Cogdill, Corporate Counsel & Benefits Attorney at ProBenefits, Inc.

Tags: employer mandate, Affordable Care Act update, aca update, benefits administration, group benefits

Consumers are finally getting the hang of Health Savings Accounts.

Tags: HSAs and COBRA administration, how COBRA works with HSAs, health savings accounts and COBRA administration

Communicating effectively with your employees can be a challenge any time of the year. But if there’s one time your communication needs to be crystal clear and hitting the mark, it’s during annual open enrollment for healthcare benefits.

Tags: benefits administration, hr best practices, open enrollment communication, enrollment communication strategy

If you want to hear an employer sing the blues, bring up the topic of COBRA billing and collection. It’s a task that eats up precious time, and it can be a real challenge. No employer likes to be the “bad guy” when it comes to enforcing grace periods or terminating coverage when payments are missed. Nevertheless, billing and collection are just part of the gig when it comes to administering COBRA. So if you aren’t outsourcing the task, it’s important to make the process as efficient and painless as possible.

Tags: cobra administration, COBRA collection, COBRA qualifying event, COBRA notification, COBRA best practices

COBRA CONUNDRUMS is reprinted from the May, 2014 issue of Health Insurance Underwriter Magazine featuring our very own Robert Meyers. 

Tags: cobra notices, ppaca and cobra, hr strategies, cobra communication

It’s hard to believe, but we’re less than six months away from 2015. That means employers will soon be grappling with a host of new reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The IRS delayed the requirements for a year, but issued their final regulations in March of this year. Employers will now be required to gather data beginning in 2015 and submit the first set of informational returns in 2016. On July 24, 2014, the IRS issued draft forms for employers to transmit the required data.

Tags: Health reform, 2015 reporting requirements, health plan IRS reporting

One of the many ongoing battles over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) involves the federal minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) standards for private insurers. Under this provision, health insurance plans in the small group market are required to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical costs and no more than 20 percent on administrative costs (15 percent for the large group market). If a plan fails to meet the minimum MLR standard, the insurer is required to pay rebates to enrollees and policyholders.

Tags: PPACA update, aca update, ACA broker fee proposals