Tip Tuesday! Employer Mandate Delayed until 2016 for Employers with Up to 99 Employees

By Lisa Klinger

The Treasury Department issued a Fact Sheet  and Final Rules implementing Employer Shared Responsibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  SOME HIGHLIGHTS ARE: 

• Employers with fewer than 100 employees get a 1-year delay:  They will not have to comply until 2016, rather than 2015.

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What You Need to Know About the New Eligibility Waiting Period Provisions

By Bill Olson

The 90-day maximum for eligibility waiting periods is effective as of the start of the 2014 plan year.  As employers are beginning to implement this new requirement, many have questions. For instance, what should employers do if they hired an employee under the prior rules?  

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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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Tip Tuesday! Employer Notification Templates Now Available

By GSA

Employer Notification Templates Now Available

Perhaps one of the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the Health Insurance Exchange/Marketplace — will open on October 1, 2013. The government has released initial templates of the forms that employers can use to communicate with employees about the exchanges.

Sample Notifications for Employers

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires that employers inform employees in writing about the new Health Insurance Marketplace (aka Exchanges) and how the exchanges relate to their benefits. The original notification date of March 1, 2013 was delayed by the Department of Labor (DOL). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that employers have until October 1, 2013 to provide notification. 

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Obamacare: 3 things you’ll want to tell employees today

By Christian Schappel

 

The healthcare reform law is in constant flux. The regulations governing how to comply with it keep being released in dribs and drabs, rewritten, delayed and rewritten again. As a result, employees have no idea how Obamacare will impact them.

Here’s an example of just how confused employees are: The new Health Tracking Poll by The Kaiser Family Foundation discovered that four out of every 10 American adults aren’t even aware that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is still the law of the land and being implemented. Yikes!

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Live report from SHRM: Looming Obamacare crisis could cost you top performers

by Jared Bilski

Many employers are so focused on the costs and resources associated with Obamacare compliance that they’re woefully unprepared for a crisis that could develop right under their noses – one that may prove very costly in the long run.

That was one of warnings issued by Karl Ahlrichs at the 2013 SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago.

HR Benefits Alert attended Ahlrichs’ presentation at the conference entitled, Using the PPACA as a Catalyst to Move Organizational Culture.

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Administration finalizes insurance protections in reform

BY KATHRYN MAYER

The Obama administration on Friday issued a final rule that implements five key consumer protections in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Some of the consumer protections—including for those with pre-existing conditions—have been among the most popular parts of the often-controversial reform law.

“Because of the Affordable Care Act, being denied affordable health coverage due to medical conditions will be a thing of the past for every American,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “Being sick will no longer keep you, your family, or your employees from being able to get affordable health coverage.”

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Florida will opt out on two PPACA provisions

By Charles Abbott

July 5, 2012

Florida will not implement two provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act involving creation of a private insurance exchange and an expansion of Medicaid for the poor, according to Governor Rick Scott.

Two other states with Republican governors, Wisconsin and Louisiana, opted out of the two provisions last month following the Supreme Court decision upholding PPACA.

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Women’s preventive health benefits – new changes effective August 1, 2012

Aetna Advantage Plans for Individuals, Families and the Self-Employed

As of August 1, 2012, the following women's health services are considered preventive and therefore generallly covered at no cost share, when provided in-network.

These benefits apply to new business effective August 1, 2012. Updated brochures will be available on Producer World beginning May 25th.

Women's preventive health benefits

• Well-woman visits (annual routine physical, annual routine GYN exam and prenatal visits)
• Screening for gestational diabetes
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing
• Counseling for sexually transmitted infections
• Counseling and screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence
• Breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling
• Contraceptive methods and counseling

The federal health care reform legislation, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was signed into law on March 23, 2010.

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Feds exempt HRAs from reform’s annual limit requirements

The feds just announced health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) are exempt from the annual limit restrictions in the healthcare reform law until Jan. 1, 2014.

Back in June, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance that required HRA plans to renew or apply for a waiver by Sept. 22, 2011 if they wanted to be relieved from complying with the reform law’s restrictions on annual dollar limits.

But the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight has just issued new guidance rendering the CMS renewal/application process unnecessary.

It says HRAs have been deemed exempt from having to comply with the annual limit restrictions through 2013, as long as they comply with existing record retention and annual participant notice requirements.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), group health plans need to start phasing out annual dollar limits on health benefits provided.

The reform law says plans cannot:

• impose limits lower than $750,000 for plan years beginning on or after Sept. 10, 2010
• impose limits lower than $1,250,000 for plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2011, and
• impost limits lower than $2,000,000 for plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2012.

By Jan 1, 2014, HRAs and health plans will not be allowed to impose any spending limits.

The CCIOO’s reasoning for allowing HRAs to be exempt from the limits until 2014: Requiring mini-med HRA plans to comply with the limits would likely result in a significant increase in mini-med premiums, which would cause many employers to drop coverage and leave workers without even minimal insurance coverage.

The new guidance also says any coverage that’s “integrated” with an HRA must meet the reform law’s annual limit requirements or obtain a waiver by Sept. 22, 2011.

However, no clear guidance was given as to when/how coverage is “integrated” with an HRA.

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