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Should your employer-sponsored healthcare benefits continue as they currently exist, or should coverage be eliminated and employees sent to the exchange?

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released a model notice that employers may use to notify employees of the new Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as the state Exchange).

The Internal Revenue Service recently released Revenue Procedures 2013-25, announcing inflation-adjusted higher dollar limits for deposits into Health Savings Accounts during 2014. Read more to find out how this increased contribution can affect you!

There has been a lot of media attention lately on the fact that the Exchanges are delayed. This is a confusing message, so we wanted to take a minute to clarify what "delayed" actually means.

Vita is hosting a forum for employers with fewer than 50 employees that will help give employers some peace of mind about navigating the new healthcare reform laws coming in 2014.

The San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinace annual reporting is now available online only - due April 30, 2013. Read more to find out who must comply and what employers must do.

The 16th Annual Employee Benefits Symposium drew the largest crowd in its history!  Read more to find information on future forums and webinars on topics covered in the 16th Annual Employee Benefits Symposium and more!

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is here to stay! That’s why this year’s annual Employee Benefits Symposium is dedicating one full track to healthcare reform so that you have the information you need to cut through the hype, understand cost, coverage and compliance considerations to help your company be in the know regarding the changing healthcare landscape.

The "Affordable Care Act" may not be so affordable for many small employers.

Don't get caught off guard! Read more to understand the federal law that requires employers to report creditability information within 60 days of the start of the ERISA plan year.

The Department of Labor has pushed back the deadline to notify employees about the exchange. Read more to find out what the new deadlien is and how it applies to you and your company.

On January 1, 2013, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8), which includes a provision to increase the pre-tax deduction limit on qualified transit and vanpooling benefits from $125 to $240 per month. 

This Vita Viewpoint contains reminders for employers about provisions of the national healthcare legislation (Affordable Care Act) that employers must consider as 2013 approaches.  

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 Due to an inflation based increase in taxable wages, effective January 1, 2013, wages will be subject to an increase in Social Security withholdings.  The current maximum taxable earnings will increase from $110,100 to $113,700.   

Refer to the Vita Viewpoint on the Annual Employee Disclosure for Medicare Part D to understand the employers obligation to inform employees on the "credibility" of your group health plan.

NCHRA will be holding its inaugural Young Professionals Summit at The Vita Companies this Thursday, September 27, 2012.   

For those employers who are subject to San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance, the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards has published the Health Care Expenditure rates for 2013.

As a result of national healthcare reform, medical insurance carriers that did not meet the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) standards required for their plan must issue rebates no later than August 1, 2012. This requirement applies to all medical plans issued from January 1, 2011 forward.

After months of discussion and suspense, the Supreme Court released its findings regarding the individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

I recently attended and was a speaker at the 2012 SPARK (Society of Professional Asset-Managers & Record Keepers) National Conference, a leading national event in the retirement plan services industry.  While my presentation was well received, Phyllis Borzi, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, stole the show and sent each of us home with more work to do! - Karl Hansen, President

Do you fully understand the new SBC requirements?  The DOL, HHS, and Treasury departments have jointly issued new FAQs regarding SBC requirements.

The IRS recently issued important new guidance on the $2,500 health FSA election cap set to take effect on January 1, 2013.  The welcomed guidance directed much of its clarification toward non-calendar year FSA plans, which had plan administrators and employers wondering how to interpret the “taxable year” language included in the new provision, originally enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). 

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The annual Milliman Medical Index was released last week with the troubling news that workplace health care coverage for a family of four exceeds, on average, $20,000 per year.

The California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the Brinker Restaurant case.  The highly anticipated ruling clarified that employers are NOT under an obligation to ensure that workers take legally mandated lunch and rest breaks.  The court put it this way, “we conclude an employer’s obligation is to relieve its employee of all duty, with the employee thereafter at liberty to use the meal period for whatever purpose he or she desires, but the employer need not ensure that no work is done.”

The Internal Revenue Service recently released Revenue Procedures 2012-26, announcing inflation-adjusted higher dollar limits for deposits into Health Savings Accounts during 2013. Preferred Customer12.00Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4

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You may have heard last month that Hospital Corporation of America (“HCA”) terminated their Hospital Agreements with Anthem Blue Cross effective March 3, 2012.  Fortunately, both Anthem and HCA continued active negotiations with the hope that the hospitals would again participate in Anthem Blue Cross’s network.

While health policy nerds countrywide are rehashing all the points made during the Supreme Court oral arguments and impatiently tapping their fingers waiting for a court ruling not expected till at least June, there are at least nine people who know the outcome of the health reform law already.

The big news last week, of course, was the Supreme Court’s hearing of oral arguments on the constitutionality of the health reform law.  From March 26 to 28, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the constitutionality of the PPACA law. While it is impossible to predict how the Court will rule, the justices’ questions suggest there is a real possibility that some or all of the health reform law will be struck down as unconstitutional.

Which Benefits are Subject to Continuation under the new law California Pregnancy Leave Law? Someone just asked a question about which benefits are subject to the benefits continuation provision under the new California Pregnancy Leave law (S.B. 299).

DOL Technical Release 2012-01 provides overview guidance in FAQ form on three PPACA requirements: automatic enrollment, employer free-rider penalty (Employer Shared Responsibility) and waiting periods. The FAQs offer little direct guidance, but rather outlines the general direction of current regulatory thinking and requests public comments on that direction. It also assuages some initial fears about how some of the nuances of those three provisions might be interpreted and applied.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that California’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. At this time, Californians will not feel an immediate effect to this ruling as it remains stayed while proponents of Proposition 8 consider their appeal options (including a potential request for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case). In the meantime, Plan Administrators should make no changes in the taxation or categorization of Registered Domestic Partner or Domestic Partner benefits.

Required Easy-to-Understand Summaries: Final regulations have just been released describing PPACA: Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) requirement.