Alera Group News
Scroll down for the latest news, legal alerts, and information from AIA, Alera Group.
Offering Telehealth to Employees Not Eligible for Group Health Plans
Many employers that sponsor group health plans have portions of their employee population that are not eligible for the group health plan, typically because they are part-time employees. Employers sometimes wish to give these part-time employees something to assist them with their health care needs... Find out more »
COVID-19 Update Employee Terminations, Furloughs, and Lay-offs: COBRA, Reinstatement, and Closed Businesses
As much of the country is locked-down due to coronavirus 19 (COVID-19), employers have concerns regarding their employee benefit programs. This may stem from a reduction in hours and, unfortunately, from terminating, furloughing, or laying-off employees – at least temporarily. The following... Find out more »
Information for Employers and Group Health Plan Sponsors on COVID-19
States and the federal government have issued (or re-issued) guidance for employers in response to the recent novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As of March 14, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported more than 2,000 cases from 49 states and... Find out more »
CMS Extends Transition Relief for Non-Compliant Plans through 2021
On January 31, 2020 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a one-year extension to the transition policy (originally announced November 14, 2013 and extended six times since) for individual and small group health plans that allows issuers to continue policies that do... Find out more »
Alera Group Acquires Muench Financial, Inc.
Alera Group, a national employee benefits, property and casualty, retirement services and wealth management firm, today announced that it has acquired Muench Financial, Inc., effective December 31, 2019.
Muench Financial, located in Seattle, Washington, works with small and medium-sized... Find out more »
Congress Repeals Unrelated Business Income Tax for Tax-Exempt Entities Offering Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits
As part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (the “Act”), Congress repealed Section 512(a)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”). This Code section was added as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”) and resulted in... Find out more »
Congress Passes Spending Bill that Repeals Three Major ACA Taxes, Extends PCORI
Updated December 21 to reflect that the bill has been signed into law.
On December 20, 2019, the House and Senate, with the final signature from President Trump, passed a bipartisan legislative package of spending bills to avoid a government shutdown. This package of bills is collectively... Find out more »
IRS Extends Deadline for Furnishing Form 1095-C, Extends Good-Faith Transition Relief
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Notice 2019-63, which extends the deadline for furnishing 2019 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals from January 31, 2020 to March 2, 2020. The Notice also provides penalty relief for good-faith reporting errors and suspends the requirement to... Find out more »
What Employers Need to Know About the New Transparency Rules
Proposed Transparency Rule Released
Following President Trump’s Executive Order on Improving Price and Transparency in American Healthcare, one final and one proposed rule was released by HHS and CMS that aim to increase price transparency for hospitals and insurance companies. These... Find out more »
IRS Releases Draft 2019 ACA Reporting Forms and Instructions
The IRS has released draft forms and instructions for the 2019 B-Series and C-Series reporting forms (Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C and 1095-C) used by employers and coverage providers to report certain information to full-time employees and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
As... Find out more »
