Study: Millennials Less Likely to Know What Benefits Their Employers Offer

iconsNew findings from the 2015 EBRI Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS) show that millennials don’t know as much about their workplace benefits as older generations.

And while older generations are considerably more likely to say that the employee benefits offered by a prospective employer can make or break the decision to accept a job, millennials were substantially less likely to say so.

Forty-one percent of boomers and 39 percent of GenXers said benefits were extremely important, just 31 percent of millennials said so.

But millennials are also far less likely even to know what benefits their employers offer them, compared with older generations.

Interesting finds? Here at KTP, we believe engaging millennials in benefit decision making is important. Decision support tools and benefit education will help employees, especially the younger generation, learn about and understand their different benefit offerings.

For the full article about this study from BenefitsPro, please click here.

Eight Things ALEs Should Know about Information Reporting and Health Coverage Offers

logoThe IRS outlines eight things ALEs should know about the information returns they must file at the beginning of 2016.

Check out the IRS Health Care Tax Tip below:

The Affordable Care Act requires applicable large employers to file information reporting returns with the IRS and employees. ALEs are generally those employers with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees in the preceding calendar year.

The vast majority of employers are not ALEs and are not subject to this health care tax provision.  However, those who are must use Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns, and Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, to report the information about offers of health coverage  and enrollment in health coverage for their employees.

Here are eight things ALEs should know:

  1. Form 1095-C is used to report information about each employee who was a full-time employee of the ALE member for any month of the calendar year.
  2. Form 1094-C must be used to report to the IRS summary information for each employer, and to transmit Forms 1095-C to the IRS.
  3. ALEs file a separate Form 1095-C for each of its full-time employees, and a transmittal on Form 1094-C for all of the returns filed for a given calendar year.
  4. Employers that offer employer-sponsored self-insured coverage use Form 1095-C to report information to the IRS and to employees about individuals who have minimum essential coverage under the employer plan.
  5. The information reported on Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C is used in determining whether an employer owes a payment under the employer shared responsibility provisions.
  6. Form 1095-C is used by the IRS and the employee in determining the eligibility of the employee for the premium tax credit.
  7. An ALE may satisfy this requirement by filing a substitute form, but the substitute form must include all of the information required on Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C and satisfy all form and content requirements as specified by the IRS.
  8. Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, or a substitute form must be filed regardless of whether the ALE member offers coverage, or the employee enrolls in any coverage offered.

For more information, see the instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C or the Employer Information Reporting FAQs for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C on IRS.gov/aca.

Health Coverage Tax Forms are Coming

If you had U.S. health coverage in 2015, a tax Form 1095 will hit your mailbox beginning in late January. Why are you getting the form, and do you need it to file your taxes?

Aetna explains all the details for us, let’s check them out:

f1095b-1-300x221You’ll get Form 1095-A, B or C from your insurer, your employer or the government, depending on the kind of plan you had. Some people may even get two forms, one from their employer and one from their insurer. And if you switched coverage during the year, you will get one or more forms for each of your plans.

So what is it? Form 1095 tells the government that you had qualifying health coverage, also called minimum essential coverage. This is important, because people who don’t have qualifying coverage for each month or don’t qualify for an exemption could have to make a shared responsibility payment under the Affordable Care Act. Insurers and large employers have to report this information to the government for each person covered under their plans. They have to send their plan members — that’s you — a copy of the form as well. The IRS uses information from these forms to confirm who had health coverage.

Watch for your forms to arrive in January or early February.

 

For the full article from Aetna, please click here.

Congress Tax Deal and Changes to Obamacare

Expect-Delays-sign(1)Many plan sponsors have made substantial progress in lowering their healthcare costs and making their healthcare plans more efficient. Even so, many will eventually be hit by the Affordable Care Act’s 40 percent excise tax on high-cost employer health plans.

The tax is currently scheduled to go into effect in 2018. However, Congressional leaders on Tuesday night (12/15) reached an agreement on a year-end spending and tax deal that would delay the Cadillac Tax as well as delay multiple other Affordable Care Act healthcare taxes and fess.

  • Cadillac Tax on high-value health plans would be delayed from going into effect until 2020 instead of 2018.
  • A fee levied on health insurance companies, which insurers typically pass on to businesses and individuals in the form of higher premiums, might also be delayed.
  • The deal includes a two-year pause for the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices.

For the full article, “Congress to Delay ACA’s ‘Cadillac’ Tax on Pricey Health Plans until 2020” from the Washington Post, please click here.

Towers Watson and Willis Shareholders Approve $8.9 Billion Merger Deal

downloadOn 12/11, Towers Watson & Co. won approval from its shareholders for an $8.9 billion merger with insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Plc.

“We are confident that combining Towers Watson and Willis will accelerate both companies’ long-term strategies and create substantial incremental value for shareholders,” Towers Watson Chief Executive Officer John Haley said in the statement.

Willis agreed in June to merge with Towers Watson to better compete with brokers including Marsh & McLennan Cos. and Aon Plc, which also have substantial consulting operations. Here at KTP, we are interested to see what this will mean for the private exchange market in 2016!

For the full article from Insurance Journal, please click here.

Did you know?

This year, fines for skipping the ACA’s requirement that all qualified people obtain health insurance will jump to $695 per adult or $347.50 per child under age 18, or 2.5 percent of annual family income, whichever is higher.

This requirement is part of the Affordable Care Act’s Shared Responsibility Provision, and is unofficially referred to as the “individual mandate.”

The individual mandate went into effect at the beginning of January 2014 and continues each year. The penalty for not having coverage will be paid on your Federal Income Tax Returns for each full month you or a family member doesn’t have health insurance or an exemption and is based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). The fee went up each year from 2014 – 2016 making it more important to look into coverage and exemptions options each year.

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More Companies Opting for a Private Exchange

According to a new article in Forbes, the number of employers making the switch to private exchanges for their health benefits is continuing to grow!

Already, Accenture estimates 6 million people enrolled via private exchange for this year, which is double the number of people who used the new technology in 2014.

And Mercer, says 27% of large employers in its annual survey are “considering switching to an exchange within five years.”

Check out the full article here.