FSA / HSA / HRA

The IRS has announced the limits for employee benefit plans for 2019.

When Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003 implementing prescription drug coverage under Medicare, it required all employers that offer prescription drug benefits to provide an annual notice to all Medicare-eligible plan participants.

Gary Kushner, President and CEO of Kushner & Company was interviewed by Workforce Management magazine during the 2018 SHRM Annual Conference in Chicago about the most often missed items in employers' compliance with the ACA.

Starting in 2007, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA) requires that the IRS release the upcoming year’s new HSA limits prior to June 1st.

In May, 2017, the IRS released the 2018 HSA contributions limits in Rev Proc 2017-37, amongst other HSA-related indexed numbers, stating that the maximum contribution for those in family HDHP coverage would be $6,900.

On March 5, 2018, the IRS published Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) 2018-10. Effective for calendar year 2018, the family contribution limit for HSAs has been lowered to $6,850 from the previously set amount of $6,900.

The employer mandate, sometimes known as the “play or pay” clause of the ACA, imposes penalties on Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) if any of their full-time employees purchases individual coverage at the Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as an Exchange) and receives a premium tax credit.

With IRS Notice 2017-64, we now have the applicable retirement and health and welfare benefit limits for 2018. Many (but not all) have increased from 2017. Earlier this year, the IRS announced the 2018 Health Savings Account (HSA) limits and plan designs.

In a new IRS Notice, the period to provide the required notice to all participants of a new Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) is extended until no sooner than 90 days after the issuance of such guidance.

For the past few years, health plan sponsors have been required to complete an annual online disclosure form with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), reflecting whether the prescription drug coverage offered under the sponsor's plan(s) is "creditable."

In his January 13, 2017 Op-Ed piece, David Brooks argues that health care markets can, but don't often work when consumers "purchase" health care. He's not talking about health care coverage, but the actual receipt of health-related services.