Our Benefits Blog

On Tuesday April 1st President Obama signed HR 4302 commonly known as the "Doc Fix Bill" primarily designed to delay a 24% reduction in Medicare payments to doctors as well as providing a number of other fixes.

One "fix" that will have a significant impact on the small group market is the elimination of the deductible limits of $2,000 for a single and $4,000 for any other plan under the Affordable Care Act. The original limit was outlined in section 1302(c) on page 48.

HR 4302 states:

SEC. 213. ELIMINATION OF LIMITATION ON DEDUCTIBLES FOR EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH PLANS.

(a) In General- Section 1302(c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148; 42 U.S.C. 18022(c)) is amended--

(1) by striking paragraph (2); and

(2) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking ‘paragraphs (1)(B)(i) and (2)(B)(i)’ and inserting ‘paragraph (1)(B)(i)’.

(b) Conforming Amendment- Section 2707(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-6(b)) is amended by striking ‘paragraphs (1) and (2)’ and inserting ‘paragraph (1)’.

(c) Effective Date- The amendments made by this Act shall be effective as if included in the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148).

You can read the full bill here HR 4302.

Most small employers have been very concerned about how they are going to handle the increased premiums that most likely will ocurr from the ACA.  

A simple fact of insurance is that the sooner the insurance company has to write a check to cover services the higher the premium they have to charge to cover those costs.  So the elimination of the deductible limits is very welcome because it gives the employers much needed flexibility to design plans that fit their budgets and fit their employees needs.

To get more information download our Health Care Reform Bulletin.

Talon Benefits is dedicated to bringing our client partners the best solutions and timely information.  We are here to help you navigate the ever changing regulations of health care reform.

In light of the Supreme Court’s June 28, 2012, decision to uphold the health care reform law, or Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers must continue to comply with ACA mandates that are currently in effect. Employers must also prepare to comply with ACA changes that will go into effect in the future. To prepare for upcoming changes, employers need to be aware of the ACA mandates that will go into effect in 2013.  

This Talon Benefits Legislative Brief provides a compliance checklist for employers for 2013. Please contact your Talon Benefits representative for assistance or if you have questions about changes that were required in previous years.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was upheld by the Supreme Court.  What does that mean...

BenefitMall one of the vendors I work with has created a great report that goes over what the individual mandates look like.

The some of the questions they answer are:

To whom does the Individual Mandate provision apply?

Who is exempted from the Individual Mandate?

What is "Minimum Essential Coverage"?

How much is the flat tax for individuals?

How will income impact the tax rate?

They give us plenty of informtation without overdoing it and there are links to dive deeper into the law.

To download the report click here: Individual Mandates Explained

Today was the first day of oral arguments for Healthcare Reform.  Today's arguments are in relation to Department of Health and Human Services. v. Florida.  There will be a lot of opinions expressed about the arguments but I wanted to provide the actual testimony. 

For a transcript Monday 3-26 Oral Arguments PDF.

To play the audio hit play below.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires employers to report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored group health coverage on employees’ Forms W-2. The purpose of the reporting requirement is to inform employees about the cost of their health coverage. The reporting does not cause employees’ health coverage to become taxable to them.

Most employers are more than willing to let their employees know how much their benefits cost but they aren't sure what needs to be reported.  So attached is a "Health Care Reform Legislative Brief" that we provide to our customers so they know the answer to that question.

Click Here for an easy to read and understand chart of what need to be reported.

IRS Issues Additional Guidence on W-2 Reporting.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires employers to report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored group health coverage on employees’ Forms W-2. The purpose of the reporting requirement is to inform employees about the cost of their health coverage. The reporting does not cause employees’ health coverage to become taxable to them.

This reporting requirement was initially set to take effect beginning with the 2011 tax year. However, in October 2010, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delayed the compliance date by making health coverage cost reporting optional for the 2011 tax year. In April 2011, the IRS issued Notice 2011-28, which further delayed compliance with this requirement for small employers (those filing fewer than 250 Forms W-2) and provided interim technical guidance on the reporting requirement.

On Jan. 3, 2012, the IRS issued Notice 2012-9, which replaced Notice 2011-28, and updated the interim technical guidance on the Form W-2 reporting requirement.

This Talon Benefits Legislative Brief summarizes the IRS’s interim guidance on the Form W-2 reporting requirement.

Click here to Download the rest of the Brief.