Monday, September 30, 2013

ACA Marketplace Notice Guidance and Employee Q & A

Back in May of this year (2013) the Department of Labor set a new deadline of OCTOBER 1, 2013 (originally March 1, 2013) for most employers to provide notices to their employees pertaining to the soon to be formed health insurance marketplaces. Since this deadline is rapidly approaching, this week’s blog post is dedicated to assisting readers and stakeholders with compliance with this requirement.
Technically, the DOL only required employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to provide the “marketplace notices”. But since the vast majority of employers are subject to FLSA,

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

10 Health Care Cost Reducing Strategies for Employers

Since the launch of this blog site earlier this year, the majority of posts have been focused on compliance issues. This week, I’m changing things up, and shifting the focus to strategies that can help employers and employees REDUCE the cost of their health insurance. These strategies are not merely theoretical, conceptual ideas, but rather, time tested and proven ways to reduce the cost of health insurance. And depending on the type of coverage you offer today, there may be no better time than NOW to consider making some changes!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Medicare Part D Disclosure Notices – DEADLINE LOOMING!

It seems as though the entire employee benefits/human resource universe has been transfixed on the upcoming, October 1 deadline for the ACA Marketplace Notice requirement (now deemed optional). In fact, this very blog site thoroughly addressed the Marketplace Notice requirement a mere two weeks ago, and provided guidance and compliance assistance! Meanwhile, another notice requirement, the 8th anniversary no less, looms…
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) created a voluntary prescription drug program, called Medicare Part D, for Medicare eligible individuals.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Medicare versus Obamacare versus Other Insurance…Know Your Options!

A recent news article (Waters, Jennifer. “Don’t Confuse Medicare with Obamacare.” Wall Street Journal 7 Sept. 2013) cautioned readers not to confuse the annual Medicare open enrollment period (aka open season) with the upcoming Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollment period. Since the two programs will have overlapping enrollment periods during the last quarter of the year, there is bound to be confusion, if not opportunistic hustlers looking to exploit unsuspecting enrollees. As Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicated in the article, We want to reassure Medicare beneficiaries that they are already covered, that their benefits aren’t changing and that the Marketplace doesn’t require them to do anything different. Specifically, they do not…