Employee Benefit Advisor

In a time of much uncertainty surrounding the healthcare reform, according to a June 14th PricewaterhouseCoopers, 'Behind the Numbers Report', employer costs are estimated to increase around 9%.  The good news is this is a drop of 0.5% from 2010 growth rate.  What are the primary contributors?

On the encouraging side, there are three areas expected to deflat or hold medical costs:

• Pre-managed care design that increases deductibles and replacing co-pays with co-insurnance. 
• Drugs costs cooled by expansion of generic drug portfolio. High volume drugs such as Lipitor patents expire in 2011.
• COBRA costs expected to level off.  (side note: Congress has introduced an extension of the subsidy, legislation (S. 3548), that would reinstate through 11/30/2010).

The primary drivers for the inflating costs will be:

• Hospitals and Physicians move costs from Medicare to private payers/employers. This will be the top reason for higher costs.
• Care-provider consolidation.  Private practices will decrease while groups emerge.
• 2011 Stimulus funds will launch electronic hospital records implementations to  avoid 2015 Medicare penalties. This will be a billion dollar invest in to technology.  

Although the primary drivers are out of employers control, your ability to maximize on the deflators is not.  If you are a small to medium size employer contact Management 2000, a PEO Indianapolis.  Let our team of Employee Benefit Advisors and Human Resource Consultants put in place a benefits plan administration that will ensure your success and control costs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' report is available at www.pwc.com/us/medicalcosts2011.

On June 14,2010, The IRS, U.S. Department of Labor and HHS released guidance on what Grandfathered Plans.

Grandfathered plans are fully-insured or self-funded health plans that existed on March 23,2010. Many within the Benefits Community were waiting for guidance to how what changes, if any, could be made without compromising their status.  The interim final regulations are clear that any change to the following areas put your plan at risk:

• Significant reduction in benefits
• Increase in coinsurance
• Increase in copay
• Increase to deductibles and out-of-pocket limits
• Employer decrease in contribution
• Modification of overall annual limit
• Modifications in fully-insure policy
   

Management 2000 offers Human Resources Outsourcing Service that includes Employee Benefit Management.  Let one of our Employee Benefit Advisor's help you plan for the future.  We are a small business PEO with offices in Indianapolis, IN. Contact us today, so we can help guide you and yours business to success and wellness.

For employers, employee retention and increasing productivity have always been paramount to running a successful business. It became clear as early as 2004, that employee’s work satisfaction is tied in a large part to benefits. More directly, it is benefits linked to their health, work-life balance and financial security.

 

In 2008, an annual Study of Employee Benefit Trends by MetLife revealed that benefits played a bigger role in employee loyalty than employers realized. In the most recent study (2009), the key message from the study is how to ‘align benefits in a challenging economy.” From the employer standpoint it is cost and employee productivity. For the employee, it’s about financial security and health benefits.

 

The Study of Employee Benefit Trends: Finds from the National Survey of Employers and Employees, illuminates a surprising link between “benefit programs and employee productivity.” 48% of employers that offered wellness programs reported an increase in employee productivity. Is your Employee Benefits Plan taking you in the right direction?

 

Management 2000 is a small business PEO that can build an Employee Benefits Plan that slows benefits costs while increasing employee productivity. Contact us today. Whether you are interested in the services of an Employee Benefits Advisor or as comprehensive as Employee Benefits Administration, we are ready to assist you!

On my last blog, I highlighted changes that took effect immediately and stretching through 2013.  So, what happens in 2014 and beyond?

• State-based insurance exchanges open for business.  The exchanges are available to individuals and small businesses with less than 100 full-time employees (seasonal workers are not excluded).
• Annual dollars limits on coverage can not be required as of January 1, 2014.
• Waiting periods are limited to 90 days.
• Preexisting exclusions are prohibited on plans.
• Plans must include 'comprehensive health coverage' that includes the general categories defined in the legislation.
• U.S. citizen and legal residents are required to have health coverage. Those do not enroll in a plan will have to pay a penalty.
• Employers with more than 50 employees that do not offer group coverage and has one employee that received a premium assistance tax credit will be assessed a fee per for every full-time employee.  The first 30 employees are not counted.
• Large employers (more than 200 full-time employees) must automatically enroll full-time employees into a plan.
• In 2018, an excise tax will be applied to insurers of employer-sponsored health plans that have a total value that exceeds $10,200 for individual and $27,500 for family coverages.

There are a lot of provisions associated with the new health care reform legislation that will impact your employee benefits plan.  Small business PEO's bring to an expertise at both a Employee Benefit Advisor and Employee Benefits Administration capacity.   Managepoint is a PEO Indianapolis and Dayton PEO.  Contact us today and put us to work for you!  

 

Are you looking to the future of employee medical benefits in 2010 and beyond?  The regulatory and compliance demands are only going to increase for your small business. That is why many small business owners are looking to PEOs and their Employee Benefit Advisors for direction. Just to mention a couple of highlights:

Tax years 2010 to 2013 :

• Small businesses tax credits for employers that purchase health insurance based on the number of employees and average annual wages.
• If you provide Medicare Part D subsidy to retirees, it will be eliminated in 2011.  You will need to account for the future loss on liability and income statements.
• Group and individual plans required to cover dependents up to age 26. 
• Group plans that are not grandfathered, will have to cover pre-existing conditions for children under the age of 19. 
• Federal grant program for employers providing wellness programs to their employees. 
• Employers must include health benefits on W2s during taxable years after 12/31/2010.
• Changes to Health Savings (HSA) and Flexible Spending (FSA) Accounts.
• Mandate to enroll employees in a new national public long-term care program, unless employee opts out.

For Tax years 2014 and beyond, stay tuned...

Whether your a small or large company you're going to have good times and then times that are challenging which I refer to as PAIN. We at a top PEO, Management 2000, will help eliminate the PAIN. As a small business PEO, we know the laws and regulations...we know how business works.
Have you had PAIN in the last 12 months with OSHA, workers' comp claims, unemployment claims, garnishments, wage compliance, labor board disputes, terminations, ADA compliance, discrimination compliance, background checks etc????? Well that's part of the PEO benefits will take care of for you. Regardless of you business or what state you're in, Management 2000 knows the issues and what to do, to solve them. Think of M2K as your employee benefit advisor that is available 24/7. If your getting tried of the PAIN give us a call...M2K has been eliminating PAIN for for over 15 years!!! At the end of the day our clients save dollars and time...it's your game plan, we  just help make it more efficient!!! Go ahead and call us at 800-554-5945 or on the web at www.management2000.com

Management 2000, a Professional Employer Organization Indiana (PEO) can generally obtain a lower cost workers' comp policy for you because, Management 2000 is better situated to  do so and has more experience in negotiating  policy's. Our clients don't have up front fees nor end of the year catch ups to pay. With Management 2000 you just pay as you go. M2K manages your policy...Certs, Claims, Record Keeping
 If your W/C cost is getting out of control...Why wouldn't you call me as your employee benefit advisor? Steve Schilling 800-554-5945 or on the web at www.management2000.com

I read an interesting article today on the Daily Advisor from HR.BLR that I think makes a very good point.  The article was about describing "essential functions" of the job and stated that it is important not to confuse the method with the task that needs to be completed.  In other words, stating that the job requires bending(method) is not enough to give a clear understanding of what is required.  It would be a more appropriate Human Resources practice to say "responsible for gathering multiple parts that are located at various levels including floor level and place them at table height".  It would also be appropriate to include the weights of the parts as well as the frequency on how many times a person would have to retrieve the parts.   By being more descriptive about the task that needs to be completed, you will find numerous benefits including:

• better screening of candidates - you will be able to ask more specific questions about a persons ability to perform the task
• candidates will have a better understanding of what is expected of them and finally
• in the event that you have to make an accommodation, the Dr. will have a much clearer picture of what the employee is being asked to do. 

As a HR Consultant, these are some of the items I work with our clients to assure that they are following HR Best Practices.

At Management 2000, one of our Employee Benefit Advisor's  uncovered a recent report from Watson Wyatt Worldwide which states that on average:

8% of Americans have health Claims in excess of $12,000, These folks make up 70% of the dollars paid on claims paid from health insurance policies

24% of Americans have health Claims in excess of $1,200, but less than $12,000. These folks make up 23% of the dollars paid on claims from health policies

68% of Americans have health claims in excess of $150, but less than $1,200.  These folks make up 7% of the dollars paid on claims from health polcies

So a total of 92% of all Americans use $1,200 or less per year in medical services leaving 8% of Americans that use $12,000 or more per year.  8% of Americans use 70% of the claim dollars versus 30% use a smaller portion of medical services.

What does this mean to the average Employer?  One conclusion that fits most businesses is that you are paying too much to insurance companies at the expense of your business by having low deductibles and co-pays.  Let Management 2000 show you better strategies to manage you benefits dollar and the risk associated with.