As the 2014 open enrollment season comes to a close (bringing an overwhelming sense of relief and joy to HR professionals and Benefits Brokers/Consultants throughout the land!), I thought I’d review the major Affordable Care Act (ACA) related compliance issues addressed in preparation for the new (benefits) year.
1) Early plan renewal; 12/1/13: Since many of the ACA related changes affect plans & on their first plan anniversary date on or after January 1, 2014;, several health insurers offered (and many employers accepted) to change plan anniversary dates to 12/1/13.
Given the enormous complexity of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), its understandable that theres confusion about the terms used to describe 3 key provisions scheduled to take effect in 2014. They are: Essential Health Benefits (EHB), Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC), and Minimum Value (MV). Each of these provisions has an important impact on employers, employees, and individuals. This week's post defines these terms and describes their impact in 2014 and beyond.
Starting in 2014, all non-grandfathered, fully insured individual and small-group health plans (covering up to 50 people) offered
Last weeks post revealed the first 5 of my “Top 10 List of ACA Misconceptions”. This week I finish out the Top 10 list with nos. 6 – 10. There's a tremendous amount of information pertaining to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that must be read, understood, translated, and communicated. I will continue informing and communicating as much as possible on this site; and I encourage readers to reach out to me with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Here are nos. 6 – 10 of my “Top 10 List”…
6. Insurance companies are cancelling certain health insurance policies that are not ACA compliant;
Over the course of the last 3 years, I have had both the honor and pleasure of discussing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a number of organizations, clubs, groups, and even a local radio show. Throughout this time, I have encountered a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings relative to several provisions of the law. So I decided to assemble a list of…you guessed it…the top 10 most common ACA misconceptions that I have come across to date. Here are the first 5:
1. The public health insurance marketplace/exchange is the only place to purchase individual health insurance in 2014 that is subject to the various ACA provisions.
Earlier today (11/14/13) the President announced that he will “allow 2014 sales of previously cancelled Individual Health Plans that don’t meet Affordable Care Act (ACA) guidelines”. Administration officials clarified that the exception would only be available to those who have lost their [individual health] insurance coverage. The announcement was lacking many of the details that are necessary in order to move forward with this exception. Among the few details mentioned were that Insurers will…
This weeks post is meant to be sort of a deep breath; or reset on where we’re at with respect to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Clearly much is being said and written about the law, and in particular, its implementation. Those of us who are charged with explaining and implementing the various requirements of the law don’t have the luxury of questioning its content, complaining about its impact, or bemoaning its “unintended consequences”. Its full speed ahead with implementation and compliance, unless or until Congress, HHS, DOL, CMS, IRS, or someone in a position of authority tells us to STOP; and that is highly unlikely.
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,
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the concept of “bare-bones”; or “skinny plans in May of this year (2013).
Then just this week (August 25, 2013), Kaiser Health News (KHN) published a story on the idea.
And since I have suggested the strategy to two of our clients to date (and mentioned it to untold numbers of colleagues and prospective clients), I thought I would make it the focus of this week’s blog post. Depending on the employer, the particular situation, or the industry, this strategy has the potential of saving affected employers thousands of dollars per year in associated ACA penalties.
As the 2014 open enrollment season comes to a close (bringing an overwhelming sense of relief and joy to HR professionals and Benefits Brokers/Consultants throughout the land!), I thought I’d review the major Affordable Care Act (ACA) related compliance issues addressed in preparation for the new (benefits) year.
Early plan renewal 12/1/13: Since many of the ACA related changes affect plans on their first plan anniversary date on or after January 1, 2014;, several health insurers offered (and many employers accepted) to change plan anniversary dates to 12/1/13.
This week’s post is dedicated to explaining one of the many new provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which is scheduled to be implemented in 2014 – MODIFIED COMMUNITY RATING (MCR for the rest of this blog post). Let me begin by stipulating which stakeholders this provision affects and which it does not:
MCR applies to health insurers in the Individual and non-grandfathered, fully insured, Small Group (less than 50 employees) markets, for plan/policy years effective on or after January 1, 2014.
MCR does NOT apply to large (50+ employees) fully insured groups, and partially self funded health plans of any size. (Note: once large group plans are permitted to be marketed in the exchanges/marketplaces…
