| Issue: # 9 |
January 17, 2008 |
Greetings!
Keeping you informed of the latest developments in the employee benefit marketplace.
If you have any questions, e-mail Bill or Vanessa. To learn more about Advantage Benefits, click here. Many of our clients have found these newsletters to be quite helpful and we have now set up a link to hold all the archived newsletters on-line that can be accessed at anytime.
If you know anyone, who may find this information of interest, please forward them this newsletter (there is a link on the bottom), and they can subscribe themselves.
Sincerely,
Bill Randell & Vanessa Costa
Advantage Benefits |
Insurance Partnership Revisited
It Still Works
Yesterday, we met with two employees of The Insurance Partnership, David Ten Eyck and Simon Muil. The Insurance Partnership is a Massachusetts state program developed by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services funded by state and federal government.
The Insurance Partnership has been around for many years and provides subsidies to employers (2 to 50 employees) and employees, who meet certain income requirements. Some of you may have explored it in the past, but we suggest that you take another look as the income requirements have changed.
Eligible employees can have a portion of their share of the premium paid by the Insurance Partnership, up to:
- $150.00 per month for an employee
- $150.00 per month for a spouse covered by the policy
- $227.00 per month per child covered by the policy.
If the Employee Income is less then the levels listed below:
Family Size Gross Family Income Can Not Exceed
1 $30,636
2 $41,076
3 $51,516
4 $61,956
5 $72,396 |
The corresponding Employer subsidy for qualifying employees is as follows:
Type of Coverage Annual Savings Up To
Single $400
Dual $800
Family $1,000
The problem with the current program, as we see it, is that it will only apply to employees that do not have health insurance, not those who are currently insured on your plan. Why?
The corporate line is that the Insurance Partnership was created to help people who do not have health insurance, not help people who already have it. On paper that may make sense, but to us it seems unfair. A newly hired employee, and the employer, can actually be eligible for Insurance Partnership subsidies, but a current employee with the same same income and family characteristics, who currently participates in the employer sponsored plan will not be eligible!
If this changes, we will let you know.. In the meantime, the Insurance Partnership will only work for new employees, existing employees not on the health insurance for six months and the self-employed (sole proprietors). In the end, we suggest that you add the Insurance Partnership to the benefit package for new employees to determine, if they may qualify for a subsidy.
It is worth it.
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| 1099-HC
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Once again, we are reminding you of the importance of Form MA 1099-HC. The carriers are now in the process of mailing them. It will name the carrier, subscriber number and all those insured under the plan. Information from the MA 1099-HC will then be used to complete the new " Schedule HC", which has been added to the Massachusetts Income Tax return, to avoid any penalties for not having health insurance .
On a personal note, we received our own 1099-HC from Blue Cross at our house in the mail yesterday. If you have not already, we strongly recommend that you send a note to your employees making them aware and to check their mail for it. This is VERY important!
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