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Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer Benefits Blog. We will be posting about current employee benefits and executive compensation topics and issues. We invite you to contact the authors with your thoughts or questions.Blog Contributors
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Arizona’s New Mini-COBRA Statute Has Arrived, but Is Preemption a Concern?
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) requires employers who have 20 or more employees and who offer a group health insurance plan to provide enrollees with a right to continue coverage after the occurrence of certain qualifying events. Effective January 1, 2019, Section 20-2330 of the Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) seeks to extend a similar right to Arizona employees of “small employers” who have at least 1 but not more than 20 employees. The new rule applies to insured health benefit plans issued or renewed after December 31, 2018. Self-insured health benefit plans are exempt from Section 20-2330. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged Arizona, COBRA, mini-COBRA, small employers
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Health Plans – A Pain to Administer But Appreciated by Employees
Administering health plans is not the easiest task. Such plans are subject to an alphabet soup of laws, including but not limited to ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, COBRA, HIPAA, GINA, Mental Health Parity, the ADA, the ADEA, and Title VII. However, a November 2017 American Benefits Council survey may make employers feel better about the time, energy, and resources they spend administering their health plans.
The November 2017 survey shows that employees prefer high quality benefit programs over additional pay by a nearly 2‑to‑1 margin. This is surprising because many people assume “cash-is-king.” The survey demonstrates otherwise and highlights how important employer-provided health benefits are to employees. Read More ›
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged ACA, COBRA, halth care, nondiscrimination, Section 125
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Curing What Ails You – Relief for Small Employer HRAs
The impact of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) on health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) has not been favorable. Many employers got rid of their HRAs or integrated them with a major medical plan in order to avoid significant penalties under ACA. These rules imposed a significant burden on small employers, because many small employers used HRAs to reimburse employees for the cost of individual health insurance policies they purchased rather than sponsor a group health plan.
In IRS Notice 2015-17, Q&A1, the IRS granted limited relief for small employer HRAs through June 30, 2015. However, at the end of last year, small employers received greater relief in the form of the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”). Read More ›
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged COBRA, Cures Act, group health plan, Health Care Exchange, QSEHRA
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Subsidized Post-Termination COBRA Benefits
Nancy Campbell recently wrote a newsletter that discussed how health care reform impacts COBRA. One of the issues that Nancy addressed is subsidized COBRA and severance arrangements. The purpose of this blog is to dive deeper into the issues employers should consider when providing subsidized post-termination COBRA benefits.
• Providing Post-Termination Medical Benefits on an After-Tax Basis. Sections 105 and 106 of the Code exclude employer-provided health coverage and benefits from an employee’s gross income if certain requirements are met. One requirement that must be met for self-funded health insurance plans to qualify for this exclusion from gross income is compliance with the nondiscrimination rules of Section 105(h) of the Code. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 409A, COBRA, Health Care, health care reform, health plans, post-termination medical, severance
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