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According to the Greater Milwaukee Employer Health Care Benefits Survey, 18 percent of employers are contemplating cutting employee hours and 8 percent say they are "very likely" to terminate their health plan next year as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). More than 200 | |
employers, representing an estimated 156,000 employees, participated in the annual online survey.
The HCTrends survey indicates that when developing their strategies under the ACA, small employers are most likely to terminate coverage while large employers prefer reducing employee hours.
Click here to access the complete survey results. |
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Kaiser Health News columnist Michelle Andrews helps navigate the new insurance marketplaces that are scheduled to launch October 1, 2013. She answers a question about the subsidies that will be available to help obtain health insurance through the new online exchanges.
Click here to watch the video.
Click here for other videos in this series. | |
Critical IRS & DOL Guidance Prohibits Individual Billed Premium Accounts
Employee Benefits Corporation
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) jointly issued some critical guidance regarding the impact of the ACA on certain tax-advantaged plans.
This guidance effectively prohibits the use of an individual billed premium account to reimburse employees with pre-tax dollars for all or a portion of the premium cost of an individual health insurance policy in a cafeteria plan or health reimbursement arrangement.
Click here to learn more. | |
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
In preparation for the Medicare
fall open enrollment period, employers sponsoring group health plans that include prescription drug coverage are required to notify all Medicare-eligible individuals whether such coverage is creditable. A written disclosure notice must be provided annually prior to October 15th, and at various other times as required under the law. Additionally, employers are required to complete an online disclosure to CMS to report the creditable coverage status of their prescription drug plans. This disclosure is also required annually, no later than 60 days from the beginning of a plan year, and at certain other times. | |
Department of Labor Announces Same-Sex Marriages Will be Recognized for ERISA Purposes
Calhoun Law Group, P.C.
The Department of Labor has issued Technical Release No. 2013-04, in which it announced that for purposes of Title 1 of ERISA, the term "spouse" will be read to refer to any individuals who are lawfully married under any state law.
Click here to read more. | |
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Quit Tobacco Tool Kit
Promote the Great American Smokeout on November 21 by encouraging tobacco users to use
the date to make a plan to quit, or
to plan in advance and quit using | |
tobacco that day. The American Cancer Society (ACS) offers free resources to help your employees take an important step towards a healthier life ---- one that can lead to reducing cancer risk.
Click here for the complete ACS Quit Tobacco and Quit Smoking Tool Kit. Click here for additional resources you can share with your employees. |
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If you are not a regular subscriber to Enlighten, or our special edition issues, please join our distribution list to receive our regular e-newsletters.
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October 3-4, 2013
Click here for more information.
October 9, 2013
Click here for more information.
November 3-5, 2013
Click here for more information.
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Client Reminder: More information regarding Health Care Reform and other benefit resources are available on the HR360 website, available to BSG clients under the "Resources" menu of your HR Express website.
BSG subscribes to this service for your benefit. If you would like to learn more regarding this resource, please contact your account management team at BSG.
Additional Tools:
- Pay or Play Toolkit
- 2013 Health Care Reform Checklist
- Performance Review Builder
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Click here to view previous articles.
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Enlighten is published by The Benefit Services Group, Inc., (BSG®) and is provided free of charge to select BSG client representatives and associates. By providing links to other sites, BSG does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to BSG. The preceding is not intended to be and is not offered as legal advice. We are prohibited from the practice of law. Compliance is the responsibility of the employer or Plan sponsor and affected employees who should seek their own legal counsel regarding questions about information presented in this newsletter. Copyright© 2013 The Benefit Services Group, Inc. BSG® is a registered trademark of The Benefit Services Group, Inc.
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