Employee Benefit News

The Impact of Exchanges on Employer-Based Health Care

Join us as we explore the impact of private and public health insurance exchanges on employers in 2012 and beyond. Will employers bow out of the game and start sending their employees to subsidized state exchanges and private exchanges? Or will employers modify their contribution strategies to reduce costs, avoid penalties, and retain talent?

Topics of discussion include:

• What private exchanges will look like and how “defined contribution” will work for large and small employers
• Findings from bswift’s new 2012 study examining employer contribution levels and trends
• Employer trends in consumerism and wellness to control health care costs

Speaking panel:

• Mike Brewer, President, Lockton Benefit Group
• Don Garlitz, Executive Director, bswift Exchange Solutions

Lawmakers push for employer engagement with health IT and payment reform

Tuesday morning, the 2012 Employer Health and Human Capitol Congress kicked off in Washington, D.C., with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) emphasizing the role of employers in pushing for payment reform in the health care system and advancing health information technology, which could drastically change health care spending and costs to both employees and employees.

Catholics hear protests of Obama health ruling at Mass

U.S. Catholic bishops and priests across the country read out letters at Mass on Sunday protesting plans by President Barack Obama's administration to force religiously-affiliated nonprofit groups to offer birth-control coverage to women employees.

Managing and Protecting Your Employee Benefit Plans:

Successfully discharging your fiduciary duties requires time and effort. And knowing the rules is more crucial than ever. With the Department of Labor turning out new regulations — including new rules that change the landscape on fees as well as the definition of “fiduciary” — benefits professionals need to stay on top of these developments to stay out of trouble.

BNA draws upon veteran Department of Labor experts and experienced members of the BNA advisory board to describe and discuss new DOL regulatory and compliance requirements that directly affect how you manage your 401(k), health, and other employee benefit programs. You’ll learn:

• What are the new requirements?
• How can you meet them?
• What might happen if you don’t?

You’ll also get inside details on new fiduciary requirements … disclosure rules … and what you—as a plan fiduciary—must do to meet your obligations both to your participants and your company. Plus, you’ll get practical insights on new DOL regulations, both DOL and private ERISA litigation, and what you should do to protect yourself from a lawsuit.

Join us for this important and informative 60 minute complimentary web seminar – led by BNA advisory board member Sherwin Kaplan, Of Counsel at Nixon Peabody and a 23-year veteran of the Department of Labor – and ensure you and your plans are ready for the new year.

About the Panelists:

• Sherwin Kaplan, Of Counsel at Nixon Peabody
  Sherwin Kaplan is a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Labor, having worked in Washington, DC, in both the Office of the Solicitor and the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. As deputy associate solicitor in the Plan Benefits Security Division, Sherwin had litigation, enforcement, and regulatory responsibility for ERISA-covered pension and health plans throughout the country and participated in virtually all significant ERISA litigation that involved the Department of Labor. He is a frequent speaker on ERISA subjects at bar association meetings, education seminars, and training programs and is often quoted in national employee benefit plan journals and magazines.

• Eric Paley, Partner at Nixon Peabody
  Eric Paley is a member of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation team within the Labor and Employment practice group. Eric focuses his practice on the law and regulations governing retirement plans (e.g., pension, profit-sharing, 401(k), and 403(b) plan compliance), welfare plans (e.g., group health plan, group insurance plan, cafeteria plan, HIPAA, and COBRA compliance), nonqualified deferred compensation plans and equity compensation plans. A significant portion of Eric’s practice also involves counseling retirement and welfare plan committees on their fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA.

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HR hospital execs see health reform changes throttling toward them, unsure how to prepare

A majority of human resource executives at U.S. hospitals and health care systems expect health care reform to hasten the transformation of the industry’s traditional business model, according to a new survey by Towers Watson. The survey also found that workforce issues, including shortages of primary care physicians, the need for a wider array of staff skills and new leadership models, will rise in importance as the industry grapples with this transformation.

Small business health care stuck on hold

When it comes to health care, small business owners aren't making any fast moves. Faced with higher premiums again in the year ahead, many business owners have found themselves in a holding pattern. They're concerned about the rising costs and the possible impact of health reform, but unsure about making any changes until they have more clarity or options.

Navigating Healthcare Reform: Understanding the Potential Impact of Pay or Play

Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law in early 2010, employers have been challenged to determine how the Pay or Play and Cadillac Tax provisions will impact their healthcare programs in the long term.

Thomson Reuters researchers developed a data-driven model that projects the effect of PPACA regulations on employer health plan costs for 2014 – 2020 under a variety of scenarios, using data from the MarketScan® Research Databases. This model addresses:

• The direct benefit and tax cost of eliminating group health benefits
• The impact of the Cadillac Tax in 2018
• The compensatory cost for employees should employers eliminate group health benefits, requiring employees to purchase healthcare through an insurance exchange.

Join us for this timely and informative web seminar to hear Chris Justice, Senior Director of Analytic Consulting and Research Services at Thomson Reuters as he reviews the model’s assumptions, methods, data, and results.

Sponsored by:

Controlling Health Care Costs: Your Employee as Consumer

Keynote speaker:

In your role as an HR leader, you are accountable for performance on many levels - from improved productivity to reduced turnover to benefit/cost management. Giving employees the tools to make them true health care consumers can have a significant impact on your organization's bottom line.

Please join us for this presentation to:

• See how the wide disparity in the pricing of health care services within networks and provider groups can lead to employees frequently overpaying for services.
• Learn how higher cost care options do not equal better quality outcomes.
• Discover how your employees can become engaged consumers of health care, using market disparities to save money for themselves and your company.
• See a demonstration of one leading cost and quality transparency solution that is delivering on the promise of health care consumerism.

Attendees will learn:

• About the disparate costs of health care services and how this information can be used to decrease health care costs.
• How to turn employees into true health care consumers.
• How Castlight, a quality and transparency tool, can help you engage employees and get real savings results.
• How turning employee into well-informed consumers equals success for every part of your business.

Featuring:

Sponsored by:

Agencies extend benefits summary deadline & provide guidance on mental health coverage

The trio of federal agencies charged with interpreting and enforcing the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act have addressed some of the most significant questions arising from these laws. In a set of Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services have intimated that the looming ACA deadline for the production and distribution of summaries of benefits and coverage will be extended.…

Going for the interception

Anticipating the increase in age of covered dependents to 26 starting in 2011, as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the benefits team at Dick's Sporting Goods decided to clean the company's benefit rolls data with a dependent eligibility audit before this provision went into effect and before annual enrollment in the fall of 2010.

Consumers taking charge of their health care costs with health savings accounts

Employers and employees alike have found a more affordable health care option in health savings accounts, according to two national surveys released last week.

Wal-Mart trims some U.S. health coverage

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will no longer offer health insurance to new part-time U.S. employees who work fewer than 24 hours a week and will charge workers who use tobacco more for coverage as health care costs rise, the company said on Friday.

U.S. advisers: Keep health benefits affordable

An advisory group urged U.S. officials to formulate a set of essential health benefits under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that is in line with cost of insurance in a typical small employer plan.

Average annual premiums for family benefits top $15,000, up 9%

After several years of relatively modest premium increases, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage increased to $15,073 this year, up 9% from last year. On average, workers pay $4,129 and employers pay $10,944 toward those annual premiums.

Appeals process mandated by health reform don't help workers, onerous for employers

Let me begin with a two-part confession: First, I do not claim to be a health reform expert. I have not read through the massive regulation and rely heavily on the interpretation of other, smarter people. Second, I am fairly apolitical. I don't find politics at the local, national and state levels particularly engaging.