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Videos Cover Basics of IRS Section 6055/6056 Reporting

UnitedhealthCare has provided two videos covering the basics of IRS section 6055 and section 6056 reporting to help give a better understanding of what the reporting is and what is required of employers, both fully insured and self-funded.

Section 6055 reporting supports the individual mandate.  It is the required reporting to the Internal Revenue Service of information relating to covered individuals that have been provided minimum essential coverage by health insurance issuers, certain employers and other entities that provide minimum essential coverage.

Section 6056 reporting supports the employer mandate. It is the required reporting to the IRS of information relating to offers of health insurance coverage by employers that sponsor group health plans.

Specifically, the videos cover:

  • What are sections 6055 and 6056 reporting (click to view videos)
  • When the provision becomes effective
  • When reporting needs to be done
  • Who is responsible to report
  • UnitedHealthcare’s approach to supporting fully insured and self-funded groups

All content for this Blog was provided by UnitedhealthCare.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Pre-Active Medicine – CompanionDx

Anywhere between 40 and 75 percent of drugs are ineffective for individual patients. That means a large portion of patients may not only be wasting their money—but they may not be receiving the treatment or the results they seek.

Pre-Active medicine is a new diagnostic discipline that uses genetic insights to help prevent adverse drug reactions, misdiagnosis or other negative consequences of inadequate medical discovery.

CompanionDx™ is one of the only providers of both pharmacogenomics evaluations and cancer companion diagnostic testing. When used separately or in conjunction, these two types of tests are giving physicians the resources they need for more comprehensive patient treatment profiles—and that means more certainty when it comes to effective therapeutic decisions.

Tests include:
Pharmacogenomics testing
Cancer companion diagnostics testing
Colorectal cancer screening
NextGen Sequencing testing (in development)
 
You’ll receive easy-to-read test reports within 3-7 days.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Clean up your mouth!

 The following was posted on the wall when I visited my dentist recently. – Glad to report my teeth and gums are healthy.

Periodontal infection increases risk

Heart disease
Infectious endocarditis
Carotid artery stenosis
Stroke
Diabetes
Rheumatoid arthritis
Mouth and throat cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Colon cancer
Kidney infection lung infection/COPD
Low fertility in men
Erectile dysfunction
Brain abscesses
Cognitive dysfunction/ Alzheimer’s
Infectious mononucleosis
Pre-term babies
Yeast infections
Multiple sclerosis
Osteoporosis

periodontal (adjective) of, denoting, or affecting the gums and other tissues surrounding the teeth: periodontal disease

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

ACA 2015 Tax Forms 1094 and 1095

The ACA forms chart is voluntary for employers that wish to file in 2015 for 2014. The return and transmittal forms are to be filed with the IRS on or before February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) of the year following the calendar year of coverage.

Here’s the IRS link for complete instructions.
http://tinyurl.com/mgzhyoc

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

ACA: Employer Mandate Tree

The employer mandate tree easily breaks down what we see today and the changes taking place next year.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Your HSA Contributions May Trigger Cadillac Tax

The Cadillac Tax is coming in 2018. – All “premiums” over the designated amounts, currently set at $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage, will be taxed at 40%.

BUT, the IRS and DOL are currently counting employee contributions into their own HSA’s as “premiums”.

So, if you are being a responsible healthcare consumer, choosing a high deductible plan and putting dollars into an account in order to pay medical expenses, those dollars, if pre-taxed in an employer’s Section 125 Plan, will now count against you!

If the IRS does adopt rules requiring employers to include employees’ pretax HSA contributions in calculating plan costs, employers are likely to redesign their high-deductible plans, such as capping pretax contributions or allowing only after-tax contributions to reduce the likelihood of triggering the excise tax.

Thanks to Susan Luskin, FLMI, CLU, CEBS, RHU, ChHC, Diversified Administration Inc, www.Div125.com, for pointing this out.

“Embedded” Out-of-Pocket Maximum Rule Clarified

HHS recently finalized regulations to verify the annual out-of-pocket maximums for an individual in 2016 are limited to the annual limit for self-only coverage. This applies to all individuals, including each individual under family coverage. The regulation provides that the embedded out-of-pocket limit applies to all plans.

This embedded rule means that plans (including self-funded plans) will now have to have embedded out-of-pocket limits for each individual covered under family coverage. For example, using the 2016 limits, if a family plan has an annual out-of-pocket limit of $12,000 and one family member incurs an expense of $25,000, that family member would be responsible for expenses up to $6,850 (the self-only out-of-pocket limit), and the remaining $18,150 would be paid in full by the plan. Additional expenses incurred by that family member would be paid by the plan with no cost sharing for the remainder of the plan year.

 

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

Obamaco$t – OUCH!

The Congressional Budget Office reports Obamacare will cost $2 Trillion, $1.35 Trillion for everyone enrolled in Obamacare ($50,000 per person), premiums plus subsidies, and $643 Billion to pay for the expansion of Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Costs will be paid by the federal government (taxpayers) and $643 Billion in taxes, penalties and fees.

Was Obamacare the most cost efficient way to deliver healthcare? I hope you saw Steven Brill on 60 minutes Jan 11, 2015. Read his book America’s Bitter Pill.

Tower of Babel teaches valuable lesson

Gen 11:1-6 Now the whole world had one language…as one people speaking the same language…then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

PPACA requires group health plans to provide both a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), and a Glossary of Health Coverage and Medical Terms in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. When populations speaking Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog or Navajo reach 10 percent of the population in a county, federal regulations require translation.

‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ – Think of the possibilities.

Follow this link to review an updated list of counties where translation is required.  

Medical Detectives…Need help with that difficult diagnoses?

Is your doctor having trouble diagnosing your illness? Look into CrowdMedwww.crowdmed.com. – I first learned about this on the Fox News Medical Report one Sunday morning.  Their doctors gave it very positive reviews.

CrowdMed connects you with thousands of medical experts who have collaborated to solve hundreds of medical mysteries that had stumped individual doctors for years.

How does CrowdMed work?

1 Register and Submit Your CaseSubmit your case anonymously and be instantly connected to thousands of medical experts who collaborate to get you the answers you need.

2 You Get More Attention from the Crowd Crowdsourcing enables anyone with applicable expertise, anywhere in the world, to collaborate on solving even the most difficult problems. Most of CrowdMed’s Medical Detectives are people with professional careers in medicine, healthcare, and science, devoting their time and expertise to help you get answers.

3 Collaborate with Medical Detectives Medical Detectives can access your case once it’s active on our site. Medical Detectives may also use chat and discussion features to ask questions, request additional details, and discuss your case.

4 Get Your ResultsAt the end of this process, you’ll receive a report which includes the top diagnostic suggestions and solutions, along with supporting medical references. You and your doctor will then use this report to help determine your final diagnosis and treatment plan.

Compensation for services?  You can always submit your case without Medical Detective Compensation, but they recommend that you offer a cash incentive to be shared by the Medical Detectives who contribute the most to your case. Many Medical Detectives donate these proceeds to charity. If the top diagnostic suggestions you receive are not confirmed to be accurate by your doctor, you can get a full refund of your compensation offer per the Money-Back Guarantee. In addition to a free case submission option, CrowdMed offers three paid packages: Lite ($99), Standard ($299), and Premium ($499) packages, each providing unique benefits. All are eligible for the full Money-Back Guarantee.

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