Hope Sutton

HHS Proposes Revisions to ACA Section 1557 Regulations At the end of May, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule to revise regulations previously released under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The HHS goal with the proposed rule is to remove... Find out more »

This alert is of interest to all employers that sponsor group health plans.  Note that employers with “grandfathered” or “grandmothered” plans are not subject to the ACA out-of-pocket limits, although the HSA/HDHP rules still apply if the plan is an HSA-qualified HDHP. In Rev. Proc.... Find out more »

This alert is of interest to all employers that sponsor self-insured group health plans, including Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs).  Note that the PCORI fee does not apply to most health FSAs. Employers that sponsor self-insured group health plans, including health reimbursement... Find out more »

Many small employers are turning to self-funding to provide economical group health benefits to employees. A growing number now use reference-based pricing to lower costs. Reference-based pricing is a way for employers who self-fund their benefits to limit costs by paying a fixed amount for... Find out more »

Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are important but the best way to fight a fire is to prevent it from starting. When it comes to fires, residential fires come to mind first. But commercial properties are also vulnerable. The National Fire Protection Agency reported 113,500 non-residential... Find out more »

As with almost every other industry, the digital world is bringing changes to the insurance industry. The speed and convenience of digital transactions that shoppers and banking customers appreciate are now coming to insurance claims handling. In a study by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, 24... Find out more »

Many employees rely heavily on the money they put into their employer-sponsored 401(k) account to pay for their retirement. The last thing they want is for the money to be stolen by cyber thieves. Cybersecurity is a growing concern. When Equifax, a credit reporting agency, was hacked in... Find out more »

Less than 37 percent of small business owners feel they have adequate cyber liability insurance protection, according to a new study conducted by The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., and Forbes Insights. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has identified the main cyber risks... Find out more »

These eight steps will help you create an effective workers’ compensation claims management procedure. But getting the first step right is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure you get all the other steps right, too. 1. Support a workplace where there is trust and mutual... Find out more »

Two experts recently gave their opinions on the future of workers’ comp costs. One expert is pessimistic, the other one is optimistic. What do you think? Doom? Workers’ compensation costs could increase 300 percent by 2030, according to economist Richard Victor, a senior fellow with the... Find out more »