When is the last time one of your employees asked how much an in-network physician’s visit would cost? How much does a blood test cost at the hospital to which your doctor referred you, compared to the same blood test at another facility you could use? Why haven’t consumers who spend hours shopping for the
Is Your Employer Worksite Medical Clinic a Group Health Plan?
Worksite medical clinics, some offering round-the-clock access to medical providers via telemedicine, seem to be growing in popularity. Promoters tout cost savings resulting from what would otherwise be lost productivity (employees whiling away afternoons waiting to see their private doctors or having to drive long distances to have blood drawn for routine laboratory work)
Ho! Ho! Ho! Where Did It Go?
On December 14, 2018, a federal district judge sitting in Texas ruled that, without the so-called “individual mandate” which requires individual taxpayers to maintain minimum essential coverage, the rest of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended (widely known as the “ACA”) is “INVALID”.
What was the case about?
Was Your Employee Benefit Plan Selected For Examination? Don’t Panic!
Each year, hundreds of retirement plans are examined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL). The agencies also examine other kinds of employee benefit plans for compliance with statutes and regulations with respect to which they have enforcement authority. In particular, the DOL has increased its examinations of group health plans
2018 Tax Reform Series: Is Your Company Eligible for a Tax Credit for Paid Leave?
Below is the third article in our series covering the employee benefits-related changes contained in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by the President on December 22, 2017.
The Act provides employers with a welcome tax credit for offering paid family and medical leave to employees – at least for 2018 and 2019. If
Crossing the Threshold – Small Business to “ALE”
While many of us have been crossing our fingers behind our backs, hoping that the Affordable Care Act’s employer reporting and shared responsibility penalties would be repealed, many small businesses have crossed the threshold to applicable large employer (ALE) status as a result of hiring or business ownership changes. A business that averaged 50 or
Introducing the American Health Care Act! Wait! … Not so fast!
The House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee (the two congressional committees having primary responsibility for health care legislation) released draft legislation for repealing and replacing aspects of the Obama administration’s 2010 health care reform law on March 6, 2017 (the “ACA”).
The bill, dubbed the American Health Care Act, is
Health Savings Accounts Considerations for Employers
The health savings account (“HSA”) has become, since its creation in 2003, an increasingly popular option for employers to subsidize employee group health costs. Employees with HSAs can save money, on a tax-free basis, for medical expenses that aren’t otherwise covered. The account’s interest earnings and distributions (for qualified medical expenses) are also tax-free.
Employers Wonder How to Respond to Marketplace Notices
Many employers have begun receiving Health Insurance Marketplace notices – letters stating that a particular employee reported that he or she wasn’t offered affordable minimum value coverage for one or more months during 2016. The letter states that the employee has been determined to be eligible for subsidized Marketplace coverage. This means, if the employer
IRS Makes it Riskier to Maintain Individually-Designed Retirement Plans
The Internal Revenue Service just made it riskier to maintain a tax-qualified individually-designed retirement plan by eliminating the five-year determination letter remedial amendment cycle for these plans, effective January 1, 2017.
Although determination letters are not required for retirement plans to maintain tax-qualified status under the Internal Revenue Code, virtually all employers sponsoring individually-designed retirement