Rules Allowing Mid-Year Health Plan, FSA Changes Will Sunset
A temporary rule that allowed covered employees to make mid-year election changes to their health plans and revisit how much they set aside into their flexible spending accounts (FSAs) will sunset at the end of the year. The rules gave employers
Group Health Insurers Not Factoring In COVID-19 Effects in 2022 Pricing: Study
In a glimpse of what we may expect in terms of premiums, a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that most insurers are not factoring in added costs or savings related to COVID-19 for their 2022 health
Few Health Plan Enrollees Know About New Price Transparency Rules
Despite a new law requiring hospitals to post detailed pricing information for their treatments and procedures online, fewer than 10% of U.S. adults are aware of the requirement. That's a problem considering that a growing number of Americans have high-deductible health
Attention Employers: IRS Ramping Up ACA Compliance
There are signs that the Internal Revenue Service is starting to step up its enforcement of the Affordable Care Act employer mandate. During the past six months, there's been an uptick in the number of employers receiving initial notices stating they
CMS Issues New Rules Barring Surprise Billing
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service in late June released a series of new regulations targeted at banning surprise billing in most instances, taking aim at a scourge that ends up costing many covered individuals thousands of dollars even
Employer Medical Costs Expected to Rise 6.5% in 2022
As this year sees increased health care spending due to pent-up demand after many people delayed medical procedures in 2020, a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicts employer medical costs will rise 6.5% in 2022. Last year was the first time
Pandemic Brings Voluntary Benefits to Fore
One major repercussion of the COVID-19 pandemic is that employees are embracing the voluntary benefits their employers are offering them, but they'd like to see more choices and issues such as mental health and voluntary benefits have risen to the
Tackling the Group Health Employee Premium Burden
As the labor market tightens and businesses struggle to attract new talent, many companies are starting to boost their employee benefit offerings, particularly voluntary benefits. But besides added benefit choices, what many employees want is relief from continually increasing health premiums
2022 HSA Contribution Limits, HDHP Minimums, Maximums Set
The IRS has set the maximum amounts employees can funnel into their health savings accounts and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) for the 2022 policy year. The IRS updates these amounts every year to adjust for inflation in addition to minimum deductibles
DOL Issues Model COBRA Subsidy Notices
As you will recall, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes a 100% COBRA subsidy for people who were laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the law, which took effect April 1, the Department of Labor