Proposed rules would allow some additional flexibility to ACA grandfathered plans
Federal regulators have proposed regulations to make it easier, for the dwindling number of employers still boasting grandfathered health plans, to retain grandfathered status.
Feeling good about your ACA reporting compliance? A federal audit might foreshadow a more intolerant IRS
The IRS has alarmed many employers over the last few years by sending 226-J letters assessing potential penalties for alleged violations of the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While in most cases the employers have been able to dodge those penalties by convincing the IRS that the employer had satisfied the mandate but had merely misreported that fact to the IRS, a Treasury Department audit reports wants the IRS to become less forgiving of those errors in the future.
Of Subrogation, the Supreme Court and Supreme Nonsense
The US Supreme Court decided an ERISA-related case recently that sponsors of self-insured medical plans are talking about, wondering about, and even worrying about. We'll explain here why the case is worth knowing about, but why it's most relevant, and most worrisome,...
The ACA, Student Health Plans, and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), with its massive-and-growing-bigger-by-the-day tail of regulations, proposed regulations and other guidance, has created its share of unintended consequences. One of those consequences has fallen hard on health insurance stipends and...
Keeping It Real. You Know: Like a Presidential Correspondent
Today, Presidents’ Day, I’d like to make a proclamation. Actually, it’s more of a strong suggestion. As you work through your employee benefits communication plan for 2016 (and beyond), rather than communicating like a President of the United States (top down,...
How to Make Vendors Love You | RFP365 Guest Post
Every now and then, we open up the blog to our vendors, especially when we feel they have something important to say that can truly benefit our clients. That’s definitely the case today, as RFP365 shares the do's and don’ts of RFPs. Enjoy! Few holidays are as wrought...
Reasons to Love HR Tech
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we wanted to share the love – the HR tech love that is. Here are just a few reasons to love HR technology: HR technology saves you time. HR technology solutions help you automate mundane, time-consuming HR tasks. Not to...
Are We “Forfeited” or Are We Just “Lost”? Shorter, Simpler Words Are Better
Patefacio adscriptionem est maxime stressful anno gesta. Expectatur legere me ut auxiliemini mihi materiae ignoro verbis summa rerum facere quod ego faxo recte semper timet. Patefacio adscriptionem est stressful in hoc, quod ego magis verisimile habere radix canalis...
It’s not you, it’s me
Xerox announced its plan to split into two independent, public companies on January 29. The pending separation could be complete by the end of 2016. The split is a strategic decision to align business to current market dynamics, simplify organizational structures and...
Our Long National Nightmare Is Not Over: CMS Asks Employers to Verify TRF Filings for 2014
An FAQ regarding transitional insurance fee (TRF) submissions for 2014 appeared on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “REGTAP” site on May 12, 2015. (CMS uses REGTAP to provide information on several different programs it administers, including TRF...
New Resource: Ben Admin Infographic
What is the average PEPM cost of a benefits administration system? How many employers currently use an online benefits administration system versus paper enrollment? Check out the HR Technology and Outsourcing Practice's new infographic for these answers and other...
IRS Issues Procedures for Implementing Retroactive Transit Benefit Parity
The IRS recently issued a simplified program to reflect the retroactive application of the PATH Act provision that increased the tax-free benefit employees may receive for employment-related mass transit expenses to match the tax-free benefit for employment-related...
Identity Theft Protection: The IRS Weighs in on Taxability
Data breaches and identity theft are now so prevalent that I was amused, but not surprised, to find in my email inbox the other day an e-zine called, “Data Breach Today.” Typically, when the holder of sensitive financial or other personal data suffers a data breach,...
Data Analytics: A Passing Trend or a Pillar of HR?
Chances are you’ve seen the words data analytics floating around the headlines and pages of blogs, articles and conferences. Data analytics has become a huge topic in the HR tech industry. Just Google the phrase, and you will be flooded with results like: “the...