“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change.” ― Heraclitus.
When it comes to health plan compliance, this statement couldn’t be truer. The IRS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are constantly developing, revising and amending regulations related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While overwhelming, it’s still crucial for employers to keep pace with the plethora of changes since the regulations affect many facets of employee benefit planning, compensation, and taxes. It seems these days that benefit management needs to keep up with the law in addition to attracting and retaining employees.
To help you sort through the revolving door of regulations, notices, and proposed rules, United Benefit Advisors (UBA) recently updated its PPACA Resource Center—a free, online archive focused on compliance with health care reform. The UBA PPACA Resource Center now includes the following documents:
- Highlights of Wellness Program Requirements: Summary of new requirements for the 2014 plan year.
- Additional Medicare Tax on High Earners: Summary of the published IRS final regulations on the Additional Medicare Tax (AMT)
- Marketplace Notices and Proposed Rule Summaries: Summary of IRS and HHS final and proposed rules on Transitional Reinsurance Fee (TRF), maximum Out-of-Pocket for 2015 (OOP), open enrollment for the marketplaces, maximum deductible for 2015, Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) marketplace, and other changes affecting small insured plans as well as information about the general health marketplace.
- HHS Announces Extensions to Enrollment and Premium Deadlines for Marketplace Coverage and Eligibility for Catastrophic Coverage: Summary of the Interim Final Rule that formally extends some of the marketplace (also known as the exchange) deadlines and encourages insurers to provide additional extensions if possible.
