All Rights Reserved Digital Insurance VACO What does your business need to know? Nancy Grasso Digital Benefit Advisors
Apr 01, 2015
All Rights ReservedDigital Insurance
VACO
What does your business need to know?
Nancy Grasso
Digital Benefit Advisors
All Rights ReservedDigital Insurance
Health Care Reform Discussion Topics
1. The first years
A. 2010- 2012
A. Age 26
B. Preventive Care
C. No pre-x for children
D. Non discrimination ( 105H)
E. Supreme Court Ruling
F. Expansion of Women’s Health
G. Essential Benefits Defined
H. Medical Loss ratio rules and rebated
I. Summary of /benefits and Coverage
J. Increased Taxes
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Health Care Reform Discussion Topics
2. Now and in the future
A. 2013
A. Expanded W-2 reporting
B. Essential Benefit Established
C. Plan Actuarial Value Determination
D. Open Enrollment to the Exchanges
B. 2014
A. 90 Day waiting period implementation
B. Guarantee Issue- Community Rating
C. Mandate to Purchase
D. Pay or Play
E. Affordability testing with Safe harbor rules
F. Penalties Assessed
G. Reporting Requirements
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Health Care ReformImplementation –2013
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
(PPACA)
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Minimum Actuarial Value(IRS Notice 2012-31 -Issued 4/26/12 )
• ProposalDetermination of type of method to
use
• HHS and Treasury develop an actuarial value calculator (AV) or a minimum value calculator (MV)
• Checklists to determine minimum value
• Certification by a certified actuary utilizing approved methods
• What is this?• The methodology to calculate
whether an employer-sponsored plan provides the required minimum essential value
• Determines employee’s eligibility to receive a premium tax credit through the Exchange
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Healthcare Exchanges open for enrollment
• October 2013
• Effective dates of Jan 2014
• Does not constitute Open Enrollment
• Model Notice Requirement
• Subsidies to those under 400% FPL
• No subsidies for dependents who are eligible for an affordable plan.
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Health Care ReformA New Age-2014
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
(PPACA)
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105H Written and Enforced
• Cannot discriminate in favor of Highly Compensated employees ( top25%)
• Cannot apply different methods of contribution for classes, tenure or position
• Cannot apply different waiting periods • Must offer coverage to all 30 hour employees
• In the case of fully insured plans, the nondiscrimination rules are enforced through the imposition of an excise tax of $100 per day per individual discriminated against under IRC 4980D(d). This excise tax is the penalty that generally applies under the IRC for failure to comply with IRC requirements relating to group health plans
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Guarantee Issue and Rate Increases
• All Plans Guarantee Issue• No Pre – X’• No Declines• No additional Rate for health individual on small group
Insurance and individual • Rating Bands Narrowed / Eliminated• Complete Community Rates 2-99
– Average age of the group– Geographic Region– Plan Design Purchased– Network– Insurance Carrier
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Rating Rules and Methodologies(HHS and CMS: PPACA; Health Insurance Market Rules; Rate Review 11/26/12 proposed rule)
1. Issuers = individual member ratings Employers = individual or composite rating
2. Age rating – limited to 3:1
3. Tobacco rating – limited to 1.5:1
4. Family size – individual v familya. Maximum of 3 oldest family members under age
21b. No cap for family members over age 21
5. Geographic regiona. States or CMS can establish one or more rating
areasb. Maximum of 7 rating areasc. One rating area for state, county-based or 3-digit
zip codes, or metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and non-MSAs
6. Re-underwriting is prohibited
Will apply to non-grandfathered large group if state permits coverage to be offered through an Exchange in 2017
Applies to non-grandfathered health insurers (not self-funded)
Apportioned to each family member
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Rate Action is Imminent
Why? How?•Compression of underwriting age bands and no health risk adjustments •Upward cost pressure from new benefits and increased demand•Impact of currently uninsured•New fees and taxes (approaching 4-6% for full year!)
11
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PPACA Mandate to Purchase
• The keystone of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is an unprecedented individual mandate tax requiring virtually all U.S. citizens and legal residents to either have health insurance or pay a tax
• Taxes begin in 2014 and rise in years following. In each year, the tax consists of the higher of a dollar amount or a percentage of household income. For a given household, the tax applies to each individual, up to a maximum of three. Following is the schedule of taxes:
• 2014: The higher of $95 per person (up to 3 people, or $285) OR 1.0% of taxable income.
• 2015: The higher of $325 per person (up to 3 people, or $975) OR 2.0% of taxable income.
• 2016: The higher of $695 per person (up to 3 people, or $2,085) OR 2.5% of taxable income.
• After 2016: The same as 2016, but adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases
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Employer MandateIRS Notices 2011-36, 2011-73, 2012-17 and IRS 4980H
Deign Your
Essential Benefits
Und
erst
and
Nee
ds
Keep Informed
Stay
Com
pliant
Control Costs
Educate and Engage
What does this mean:Certain employers will be required to provide coverage to its full-time employees and dependents.
Who does this apply to:“Applicable large employers” with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees
• Entity that is an employer of an employee under common-law test• All entities are treated as a single employer• All employees of a controlled group are taken into account
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Employee Definitions(Proposed amendments to Employer Sharing Responsibility REG-138006-12; pub. 1.2.13)
Employees included in calculations:•All full-time employees with, on average, 30 hours or more of service per week; 130 hours if using a monthly standard•Part-time, variable, or seasonal employees•Hours for services performed outside the U.S. for which an individual receives U.S. source income
Special rules:•Teachers and employees of educational organizations – traditional breaks in academic school year will often be periods of paid leave so would be counted as hours of service•Commission-based employees, transportation employees, adjunct faculty and analogous employment positions – non-standard employees paid on commission or subject to safety regulations, e.g. airline pilots – under review. In interim consider all hours necessary to perform work
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Affordability Test and Safe Harbor Rules
• $3,000 penalty per year for each employee whose health insurance premium contribution for single coverage exceeds 9.5% of their annual household income
• Affordability safe harbor -an employer will not be subject to the $3,000 penalty as long as the employee portion of the self-only premium for the employer's lowest cost plan that provides the minimum value required is not more than 9.5% of the employee's current W-2 wages from the employer.
• The IRS also confirmed that the affordability test applies only to individual coverage, meaning employers can charge
disproportionately more for family coverage.
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Employer MandateIRS Notices 2011-36, 2011-73, 2012-17 and IRS 4980H
Deign Your
Essential Benefits
Und
erst
and
Nee
ds
Keep Informed
Stay
Com
pliant
Control Costs
Educate and Engage
What are the penalties associated with non-compliance?Employers may be assessed fees for any month they:
1. Fail to offer employer-sponsored minimum essential coverage to FTEs and their dependents
a. AND at least one person enrolls for coverage, from the Exchange, and receives a subsidy
b. Assessment = 1/12 of $2,000, or $166.67 per month, for each FTE, less the first 30 employees
2. Offer employer-sponsored minimum essential coverage to FTEs and their dependents but the employee contribution is deemed unaffordable
a. AND 1 or more employees enroll for coverage, from the Exchange, and receive a subsidy
b. Assessment = the lesser of:i. 1/12 of $3,000, or $250 per month, for FTE receiving a subsidy ORii. 1/12 of $2,000, or $166.67 per month, for each FTE, less the first 30
employees
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Compliance with §4980H(a), (b)(Proposed amendments to Employer Sharing Responsibility REG-138006-12; pub. 1.2.13)
Deign Your
Essential Benefits
Und
erst
and
Nee
ds
Keep Informed
Stay
Com
pliant
Control Costs
Educate and Engage
Assessment penalties can be avoided if the employer offers minimum essential coverage under an employer-sponsored plan to its full-time employees and their dependents.
• Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC): to be defined in a future regulation
• Definition of dependent: An employee’s child under age 26 – does not include spouse
• Employers will not face a tax penalty if not offering coverage to spouses, who will be able to seek a federal premium tax credit to purchase health insurance in an Exchange if other minimum essential coverage is not available.
• Offer of coverage in case of non-payment: Employer will not be deemed as not offering coverage if employee fails to pay their portion of the premium – this regulation adopts the COBRA 30-day grace period rule
• Offer of coverage: Employer will satisfy requirement as having offered if they offer to 95% of their employees
• Assessment payments: These are not tax deductible
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Reporting requirements Employer Plan Reporting
Who must report?•Any entity that provides minimum essential coverage
•Those employers required to meet the shared responsibility, i.e. employer mandated coverage
What is to be reported and how often?•Annual returns required
• Fully insured group health plan = provided by the health insurance issuer• Full demographic and coverage information on each
individual participant
• Identification if a qualified health plan offered through an Exchange and any advance premium payment
• Employer required to offer coverage:• Terms and conditions of health care coverage provided
to full-time employees for the year
• Employee information for those full-time employees who received it and when they received it
New IRS Notice 2012-32, issued 5/14/12
Comments taken through 6/11/12
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Fines and fees for the upcoming year
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What is your responsibility in helping employees
As mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), employers are required to provide notice to their
employees regarding the availability of the Health Insurance Marketplace, and explain how the exchanges will operate and the criteria to obtain a federally funded subsidy to help offset
the cost of premiums
Health Care Reform
Resources
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Healthcare Reform References
• Dept. of Health and Human Services www.hhs.gov
www.healthcare.gov
• Kaiser Family Foundation http://healthreform.kff.org
• America’s Health Insurance Plans www.ahip.org
• National Association of Health Underwriters
www.nahu.org
• Internal Revenue Service
www.irs.gov
Health Care Reform Q & A