Florida Group Health Insurance Blog

Rising health care costs breathe new life into the value of pretax benefits

February 29, 2008. What’s old is new in 2008 with the high cost of health care again topping the list of concerns for many of your clients … and presenting you with yet another opportunity to show the value of pretax benefits.

And by reminding your clients of the significant savings Flexible Spending Accounts can bring them and their employees, you show your value as their benefits adviser!

As recently reported in the Employer Health Benefits Survey (Kaiser Family Foundation), U.S. health-benefit costs rose last year by 6.1 percent, which is higher than the overall rate of inflation and the increase in workers’ earnings

As costs continue to soar, many of your clients - especially those with small businesses - are being forced to shift more health costs to already-burdened employees.

Consumer-directed health care holds promise, but a Flexible Spending Account is one of the most innovative, practical ways to help your clients and their employees combat the rising costs of health care right now. Although many employers offer FSAs, there exists a need for education on how employees can take advantage of the service.

For example, your clients may know that an FSA can help manage out-of-pocket health expenses, but remind them that their employees can also use an FSA to reimburse their mileage expense for eligible health provider visits.

Employees typically save an average of 30 percent on eligible expenses by using tax-free money and your clients pay no taxes on their employees’ paycheck contributions - a win-win for all.

About Ceridian Benefits Services

Ceridian is a leading provider of benefits services and offers HR solutions for businesses of all sizes. We partner with brokers nationwide to provide small and mid-market companies with value-adding services designed to help reduce administrative costs.

Learn more about our services ceridian.com.

Ceridian Benefits Services

Ceridian is a leading provider of benefits administration services including:

COBRA and HIPAA Services

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Health and Welfare Services

Premium Only Plans (POP)

Tuition Reimbursement Services

Commuter Reimbursement Services

©2008 Ceridian Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

3201 34th Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33711

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/notice%2020058.pdf

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Prescriptions should help you feel better… so should what you pay for them.
You don’t have to spend a lot to keep your family healthy. As a member of the Sweetbay healthy saver program, you save on over 400 generic prescription drugs - just $4 for each prescription for a 30 day supply**. Or, for those prescriptions you fill on a regular basis, you pay just $10.99 for a 90 day supply**. And that’s not all. With healthy saver, you’ll save on all your other prescriptions as well, including generic and brand name medications.

http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com/Cont … aver.shtml

http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com/Cont … g_list.pdf

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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The Walmart website has been updated to include information about the $4.00 generic prescription program and the most recent PDF list of drugs .

http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/fo … g_list.pdf

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=546834

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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http://www.publix.com/about/newsroom/Ne … temPK=2636

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Grouphealthflorida.com provides complete COBRA compliance and administration to our clients at no cost through our partnership with Ceridian .

What is the effect of noncompliance with the COBRA continuation coverage requirements?

Statutory Penalties

The penalty for failure to make continuation coverage available is an excise tax of $100 per day during the noncompliance period with respect to each qualified beneficiary (limited to $200 per day in the case of more than one qualified beneficiary in the same family.) Attorney’s fees may also be available. Where a covered employee’s wife and children were not participants on the date of the qualifying event, the award was limited to penalties and attorney’s fees based on the covered employee only.[1]

The noncompliance period begins on the date when the failure first begins and continues until (1) the failure is corrected or (2) the date that is six months after the last date on which the employer could have been required to provide continuation coverage to the beneficiary.[2]

But no tax is imposed for the period during which it is shown that none of the persons liable for the tax knew (or, by exercising reasonable diligence, would have known) that the failure existed. Generally, too, there is no tax if the failure was due to reasonable cause, not willful neglect, and is corrected within the first 30 days of the noncompliance period.[3]

Normally, the employer is liable for the tax, except in the case of a multiemployer plan, where the excise tax is imposed directly on the plan. In addition, a person responsible for administering the plan (or providing benefits under it pursuant to a written agreement) is liable if that person causes the failure by failing to perform one or more of its responsibilities. A person may also be liable if he fails to comply, within 45 days, with a written request of the employer, the plan administrator, or, in limited situations, a qualified beneficiary, to provide the benefits that the person provides to similarly situated active employees. Further, this excise tax may be imposed on a third party, such as an insurer or third party administrator, if the third party assumes certain responsibilities.[4]

In the case of single employer plans, the maximum excise tax for failures due to reasonable cause, not willful neglect, is 10% of the aggregate amount paid by the employer during the preceding tax year for medical care coverage, or, if less, $500,000. The maximum excise tax in the case of a person other than the employer is limited to $2,000,000 with respect to all plans.

In the case of a failure due to reasonable cause, the Secretary of the Treasury may waive part or all of the tax to the extent it is excessive relative to the failure involved. The determination of the excessiveness of the excise tax is to be made based on the seriousness of the failure, not on a particular taxpayer’s ability to pay the tax.[5]

Failure to make continuation coverage available will be treated as corrected if it is retroactively undone to the extent possible, and the qualified beneficiary is placed in as good a financial position as he would have been in had the failure not occurred and had the beneficiary elected the most favorable coverage in light of the expenses he incurred since the failure first occurred.[6]

Other Remedies

In addition to the excise taxes discussed above, other civil remedies are available under ERISA.[7] Employees or other qualified beneficiaries can bring civil actions to obtain “other equitable relief” (e.g., injunction and restitution) and to recover additional penalties of up to $100 per day for failure to provide required notices or to furnish requested information.[8] Compensatory damages are not available.[9] ASRS, Sec. 67, ¶480.

——————————————————————————–
[1]
Wright v. Hanna Steel Corp., 270 F.3d 1336 (11th Cir. 2001).

[2]
IRC Sec. 4980B(b).

[3]
IRC Sec. 4980B(c).

[4]
IRC Sec. 4980B(e); Treas. Reg. §54.4980B-2, A-10. See Paris v. Korbel, 751 F. Supp. 834 (N.D. Cal. 1990).

[5]
IRC Sec. 4980B(c)(5).

[6]
IRC Sec. 4980B(g)(4).

[7]
ERISA Sec. 502.

[8]
ERISA Secs. 502(a)(1), 502(a)(3).

[9]
See Geissal v. Moore Med. Corp., 158 F. Supp.2d 976 (E.D. Mo. 2001).

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Copyright 2008 National Underwriter Company

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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UnitedHealthcare Tiered Benefits Overview

Tiered Benefits can help both fully insured and self-funded customers drive lower overall health care costs as employees use UnitedHealth Premium program designated specialty physicians. With carefully designed plan incentives, employees are encouraged to use specialty physicians who meet quality and cost-efficiency criteria. This capability gives employers the means to provide competitive benefits with incentives – in the form of lower copay and coinsurance levels – while reinforcing the importance of quality health care to employees.

Employers can choose from a series of Tiered Benefit plan design options that allow them to align their plan contributions with budget requirements.

Key Features

§ Urgent care copay of $50

§ Emergency room copay of $100-$125

§ Family deductible at twice individual

§ Family out-of-pocket maximum at twice individual

§ Preventive care at 100 percent, not subject to copay

§ Lifetime maximum $5 million

§ Embedded deductibles

§ All standard pharmacy options available for 2008

Customer Benefits

§ Competitive benefits without higher premiums

§ Increased employee engagement and awareness of costs associated with benefit coverage

§ Long-term health care savings for employers through effective promotion of consumer-level benefits with employees and resulting behavior change at the point of care

Member Benefits

§ Lower out-of-pocket costs and higher plan coverage when seeing UnitedHealth Premium program designated specialty physicians – both quality of care and cost efficiency designations must be satisfied

§ Preventive care is generally covered at 100 percent

§ Access to health and wellness tools and resources through myuhc.com®

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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Grouphealthflorida.com introduces Safeguard dentals revised provider directory .

http://directory.safeguard.net/

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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Westshore Alliance celebrates 25 years of service.
Join us as we begin our Silver Anniversary Celebration at our 25th Annual Dinner on Tuesday, February 26 at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. We’ll be reflecting on 25 years of progress and looking forward to many more successful years. Mayor Pam Iorio will be joining us to make a special presentation.
Grouphealthflorida is proud to be a longstanding member and partner of the Westshore Alliance and sponsor of the Annual Golf Tournament .

www.choosewestshore.com

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association

A non-profit organization
Ponce de Leon Lighthouse Preservation Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization. We are dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the maritime and social history of the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station.

The Association and the Town of Ponce Inlet
The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse is owned by the Town of Ponce Inlet, but is funded, operated, and maintained by the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, Inc. The Association is a Florida-chartered non-profit, tax-exempt, historical and educational organization founded in 1972 for the express purpose of restoring and interpreting the historic Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station. It accomplishes this mission by raising necessary funds through admissions, vending sales, and through procurement of county, state and Federal grants when available.

Volunteers and Memberships
Much of the work at the Lighthouse has been accomplished through the efforts of volunteers. Annual memberships in the Association are available for a nominal fee, and all monies thus received go towards the purposes of the Association. Regular Memberships, which include voting at Association meetings are only available to residents of the Town of Ponce Inlet. Associate Memberships are available to all persons who are interested in lighthouses and their preservation

www.ponceinlet.org

To learn more about Florida group health insurance, Tampa group health insurance, Sarasota group health insurance, Miami group health insurance, or Orlando group health insurance, visit Grouphealthflorida.com or call 1-800-873-5713.

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