Tip Tuesday! Historic coverage expansion to test promise of Obamacare

By Alex Wayne

(Bloomberg) -- After three months of turmoil surrounding the rollout of Obamacare, the country faces an historic turning point on Jan. 1.

From emergency rooms to pharmacies to company human-resources departments, changes will unfold within the U.S. health-care system as the nation guarantees insurance coverage to all Americans for the first time, a goal that has eluded presidents and lawmakers since the end of World War Two.

Beginning with the New Year, insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover people because of sickness, charge them more than healthy customers or drop them when they fall ill. In return, most Americans are required to have a health plan. Some of the 19 million Americans who buy insurance on their own will find their new plans are more expensive with fewer treatment options than before as insurers seek to contain costs.

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Employee benefits compliance checklist for 2013 year end

By Timothy F. Kennedy

 

2013 is not over yet. Employers and HR and benefits professionals must address these 14 compliance issues before the New Year begins. Timothy F. Kennedy is a partner in Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice, concisely outlines retirement and health care issues that plan sponsors must consider in the following days.

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What affected HR’s job the most in 2013? Top 6 trends

By Dan Wisniewski

 

It’s almost the end of the year, and you know what that means: It’s time to look back at the past 12 months in employment law and see what mattered most to HR. 
Fisher & Phillips’ Richard Meneghello laid it all out for readers. Here’s some of what he  found relevant about the past year:

Healthcare reform

This past year was supposed to be the year of implementation and compliance for President Obama’s key piece of legislation, but that was thrown out the window when the Treasury department announced the employer and insurer reporting requirements — and the accompanying penalties — under the law will be delayed until 2015.

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List of Top 2014 Affordable Care Act Changes for Employers

By Infinisource

The dictionary defines change as “to become different.” Anyone dealing with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can tell you that if anything, it’s different. This law has created a lot of change for employers, including a new list of requirements for 2014.

Most of these changes do not apply to grandfathered plans (indicated as GF Exception). Employers need to make sure they are covering all of these new changes due to ACA, either starting on January 1, 2014, (indicated as 1/1/2014) or with the plan year starting in 2014 (indicated as PY2014)

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Updating your employee handbook: The essentials

By Tim Gould

It’s easy to overlook the importance of keeping the employee handbook current. Here’s a checklist you can use to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered.


A clearly-written, well organized handbook lays out the company’s expectations for employees. It also makes clear what the employee can expect from you.

And when done correctly, it can protect the employer from all sorts of legal headaches.
Sounds simple, right? Maybe not. Badly written or incomplete handbooks have gotten firms in trouble for everything from discriminatory hiring practices to unwittingly creating an employment contract.

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Fit gifts: Presents they'll really go for!

By Karis Gabrielson, R.N.

What could be better than fun and affordable gifts that inspire your favorite people to be healthy and active? Unwrapping fitness gear might give beginners a boost or help seasoned athletes raise their games.*

Here are a few ideas for those on your list. You might even mix and match smaller items for a fitness-themed gift basket.

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Tip Tuesday! U.S. says 15,000 health care enrollments didn’t get to insurers

By Alex Wayne

(Bloomberg) — The government failed to send data to health insurers for about 15,000 people who enrolled in Obamacare through early December, an error corrected last week before it could jeopardize their coverage, the U.S. said.

The percentage of enrollments that aren’t transmitted to insurers, a process known as an “834 transaction” is now close to zero, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a report over the weekend.

While the government announced Dec. 1 that it fixed many of the bugs and errors that had frustrated consumers using its insurance-enrollment system, garbled back-end communications with carriers have taken longer to sort out. The data transmissions are critical to complete the enrollment of millions of people seeking coverage under the Affordable Care Act that was the signature domestic achievement of President Barack Obama’s first term.

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Top 3 reasons workers hate health screenings — and how to defeat each argument

By Christian Schappel

 

Most company wellness programs lean heavily on biometric screenings/health risk assessments to be successful at driving down health spending.

The problem is, many workers aren’t willing to participate in these evaluations, making it hard to get wellness initiatives off the ground.

So what do you do when workers are standoffish about your screenings? Confront their fears head-on.

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Heads up: Key changes that could be coming for Obamacare

By Tim Gould

 

The current version of the healthcare reform law is a lot different from the one that took effect on March 23, 2010 — and more changes are bound to come. While it’s impossible to predict exactly what tweaks the feds will make to Obamacare, experts have pinpointed a number of changes that seem plausible.  

 

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4 holiday bonus, gift mistakes that could make you look foolish

By Christian Schappel

 

‘Tis the season for confusing tax liability. And while you’re busy acting like Santa Claus, the last thing you want is for the Grinch — a.k.a., the IRS — to show up, looking to fill its stockings with your hard-earned cash.

The best way to keep the IRS from dampening your holiday spirit is staying in-the-know about the common holiday accounting mistakes that attract its auditors.
A quick rundown of what will land you on the IRS’ naughty list:

1. Failing to report holiday bonuses as taxable income

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Tip Tuesday! 6 questions employers should be able to answer about the Affordable Care Act

By Sheryl Southwick

What do business owners need to do today — before Jan. 1, 2014?

• The marketplace notification requirements went into effect on Oct. 1, 2013, meaning it’s required that employers notify their employees about the Obamacare exchanges. This includes new hires within 14 days of their hire date, whether they are eligible for benefits or not.

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Meet the ‘non-employee’: Congress’ latest take on IC classification enforcement

By Christian Schappel

Another day, another crack at cutting down on the improper classification of employees as independent contractors by making life tougher on every employer — including those abiding by the law.

The latest attempt by Congress, and the ninth since 2007, to stymie “intentional misclassification” is called the Payroll Fraud and Prevention Act.

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Yes, businesses hate Obamacare: But what do doctors think of it?

By Christain Schappel

Two major studies have just been published on the Affordable Care Act (ACA): One reveals employers’ reactions to Obamacare and one reports physicians’ feelings toward the law. Are they both on the same page?

Yes.

Both groups view the law through whatever the opposite of rose-colored glasses would be (charcoal, maybe?).

In other words: They are not fans — and the sample sizes for the studies were not small, either.
According to a study of 3,072 practicing physicians, 56% of doctors want to see Obamacare repealed or defunded. Another 38% said the law should be changed. Only 6% said it should remain unchanged.

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4 potential Obamacare changes HR should watch for

By Jared Bilski

The current version of the healthcare reform law is a lot different from the one that took effect on March 23, 2010 — and more changes are bound to come. While it’s impossible to predict exactly what tweaks the feds will make to Obamacare, experts have highlighted a number of changes that seem plausible.

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Tip Tuesday! Insurers Given Permission to Renew Policies That Don't Meet PPACA Requirements

By Linda Rowings, Chief Compliance Officer United Benefit Advisors

 

 (Nov. 14, 2013) the White House announced that insurers will not be required to meet most of the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) if they renew individual or small group policies that were in effect on Oct. 1, 2013. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concurrently sent a Letter to all Insurance Commissioners that provides additional details on the waiver. Essentially, coverage that does not meet the "insurance market reforms" that are scheduled to take effect in 2014 may still be provided for renewals with policy years beginning between Jan. 1, 2014, and Oct. 1, 2014. All newly issued policies must meet the PPACA requirements.

 

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