Insurance

What kind of information are we required to give participants in our health insurance plan?

11/01/2010

Q. We just received a letter from an employee who has requested a copy of our medical plan. Are we required to provide this information to her?

No contract with employees? Feel free to change terms of employment

11/01/2010

Employers that don’t require employees to sign employment contracts are free to change the terms of employment anytime they want. By staying on the job, employees legally accept the new terms and become bound by them. That’s true even if they continue working under protest. Their only remedy would be to quit and sue over the change.

Dallas employers team up to change health care benefits

10/29/2010

Nine employers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area have teamed to align their health benefits so they are more “value-based” and encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. Part of a national initiative known regionally as the Texas Health Strategy Project, the effort aims to give workers easier access to high quality, evidence-based and cost-effective health care by reducing barriers to essential services.

7 tips for reducing your workers’ comp costs

10/26/2010

Employers can significantly reduce the cost of their workers’ compensation premiums by following a program of accident prevention, better claims management and prevention of fraud and abuse. These seven tips point the way.

Parents at March of Dimes get extended benefits

10/21/2010

The March of Dimes devotes itself to promoting healthy babies—in the community and among its own employees. To that end, working moms can take 26 weeks off—six with full pay—with a guarantee that their jobs will be waiting for them when they return. They also get another week of paid sick leave. The organization also doubled its paternity benefit last year.

The DOL has issued model language for addressing health reform changes

10/20/2010

Use the DOL’s model language to tell employees about the most recent mandates of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For links to download the model language, see “The New Health Care Reform Law.”

IRS issues one-year delay for reporting health costs on W-2s

10/19/2010

The health care reform law signed in March includes a provision that requires your organization to report the value of the health insurance provided to an employee on the employee’s Form W-2. But the IRS said last month that it will delay the requirement for at least one year. We’ve got links to the IRS documents that explain the postponement.

Business and tax provisions in the Small Business Jobs & Credit Act of 2010

10/13/2010

With the economy still struggling and lawmakers looking to take some sort of pro-business action before the November elections, Congress passed the Small Business Jobs Act in September, a $42 billion measure to provide tax breaks and loan assistance to small businesses. President Obama signed the bill on Sept. 27, 2010. Here are the highlights of this legislation that affect businesses:

New rules make it easier to appeal health claim denials

10/13/2010

Regulations released last month by the U.S. Department of Labor guarantee people the right to appeal health insurance claims denials directly to their insurers—and then, if necessary, to an external review board.

Adult children and health insurance: Know the new law’s intricacies

10/07/2010

The new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act significantly changes the health care landscape for many employers. Some aspects of the law took effect in September 2010. Most significantly, employees’ children are eligible for coverage until age 26. The new coverage requirement affects all plans renewing on or after Sept. 23, 2010.