On Tuesday, July 16th, House Bill 649 was presented to Governor McCrory for signature. H649 makes technical changes to the Small Employer Group Health Coverage Reform Act. The stated purpose of the bill is to “mitigate the effects of the federal Affordable Care Act on North Carolina’s small businesses and to increase stop loss insurance […]
Sharpen Your Pencils! Marketplace Navigators are Getting Ready to Assist with Enrollment
July 15, 2013 By
On Friday, July 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final rules outlining the standards for Navigators, the people who will assist with enrollment in the Federally-facilitated Marketplace and State-based Marketplaces. Navigators will be trained to provide information to consumers about health insurance, the new Health Insurance Marketplaces, qualified health plans, and public programs including Medicaid and […]
Large Employers Get One Year Reprieve from Obamacare
July 3, 2013 By
Are you subscribed to the Treasury Department’s blog? Sure, it’s not on the top 10 list, but after today, you may want to consider it. An early evening blog post by Mark Mazure, the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, provides a surprising but welcome reprieve for many applicable large employers. In the blog post, Mr. Mazure announced the Administration’s decision […]
SCOTUS Strikes Down DOMA – What Employer Group Health Plans Can Expect Next
June 27, 2013 By
The Supreme Court of the United States has invalidated Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a landmark decision that will result in significant changes to the employee benefits landscape for same-sex couples legally married in a state. Section 3 of DOMA amends the Dictionary Act in Title I, Section 7 […]
No Credit? No Problem! You Can Still Purchase Insurance in the Marketplace.
June 18, 2013 By
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week issued proposed rules around the financial integrity and oversight of the forthcoming health insurance Exchanges, or Marketplaces. Within the lengthy documents is a small, but welcome provision, that would require any health insurance issuer on the Exchange to accept multiple forms of payment, including cashier’s […]
PCOR Fees are Deductible Business Expenses
June 12, 2013 By
Within days of releasing the revised IRS Form 720, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel released a memorandum addressing whether fees paid by issuers and self-insured plan sponsors to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Trust Fund are ordinary and necessary business expenses, and, thus, deductible business expenses. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes a private, non-profit corporation, the Patient-Centered […]
NC Health Insurance Exchange: Marketplace or Mini-Mart?
June 6, 2013 By
A recent article in The Business Journal by Owen Covington begs the question: Will North Carolina have a marketplace or a mini-mart for health insurance in the fall? A key part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the Health Insurance Marketplace, scheduled to open in October. The marketplace is designed to give families, individuals and […]
Final Wellness Regulations Issued
May 31, 2013 By
The IRS, DOL, and HHS (the Departments) have jointly issued final regulations addressing employee wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These final regulations modify the proposed wellness regulations that were issued in November 2012. The final regulations apply to insured and self-insured group health plans (both grandfathered and non-grandfathered) effective for plan years […]
Is good health bad for business?
May 30, 2013 By
Most of us would say of course not. According to a recent RAND report, approximately half of U.S. employers with 50 or more employees offer wellness promotion initiatives. The general consensus is that a healthier workforce is a more productive workforce. Wellness programs in the workplace are a hot topic right now - the ACA’s attention to […]
EBSA is casting a wide net
May 30, 2013 By
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the division tasked with enforcing ERISA, is showing a renewed vigor. ERISA—the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974—covers more than just retirement plans. It also imposes many obligations on non-pension benefits (i.e., welfare benefits including employer-sponsored group health plans). EBSA employs approximately 1,000 people nationwide, in ten regions […]
