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Tag: Employer Health Insurance

Coding Helps with Reporting Offers of Health Insurance Coverage

The Affordable Care Act requires large employers—defined as having at least 50 employees—to file information returns with the IRS and to provide statements to employees about the employers’ health insurance. Coding does help with reporting offers of health insurance coverage.

“There is no real magic formula to simplify the process” of reporting offers of health insurance coverage, according to Richard Asensio, vice president of compliance at Burnham Benefits Insurance Services in Irvine, Calif. But certain coding can help.

“The concept for preparing Form 1094-C (transmittal form) and Form 1095-C (employee statement evidencing offer of coverage) is similar to that of preparing Form W-3 and W-2 that many benefits and payroll employees are already familiar with,” he remarked.

“Form 1095-C must be completed for each full-time employee, specifically lines 14-16 in Section II,” Asensio added. “Note that if the large employer sponsors a self-funded plan, to satisfy the reporting and disclosure requirements under Code Section 6055, it will also need to capture by month in Section III, whether or not the employee and their dependents were actually enrolled in the plan, as well as include nonemployees such as retirees and COBRA beneficiaries, and part-time employees who are eligible for and actually enrolled in the employer’s plan. Thus, for a self-funded employer, Form 1095-Cs will also need to be prepared and filed for its non-full-time population, if they are actually covered” by the plan.

Asensio explained that the initial steps for an employer in completing the Form 1095-C should be to assess all of its full-time employee population and classify individuals into various categories, such as those:

  • Employed and offered coverage throughout the calendar year.
  • Employed and not offered coverage throughout the year.
  • Hired during the year.
  • Terminated during the year.

Also, classify those:

  • Who gained full-time status during the year.
  • Who lost full-time status during the year.

“The reason for this is that in most instances, the preparation of the Form 1095-C for employees within each of these categories should be similar,” Asensio explained. “This will make it easier to complete the forms.”

Read the full report here.

Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA, Group Health Insurance Broker and Agent with Cosby Insurance Group, with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.

Cosby Insurance Group Warrenton Health Insurance Broker and Agent

Employer Health Insurance: A Bargain Compared to Government-Sponsored Coverage

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After years of slowing growth, employer health costs are forecast to climb at a faster pace next year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Even with that projected growth, employers are spending much less per person than is the government — about 60 percent less, concludes a new study from the American Health Policy Institute.

Encouraging the expansion of employer-sponsored insurance would therefore seem to be more cost-effective than handing out government coverage to more people. Naturally, Obamacare is choosing to follow the latter path — by inflating Medicaid’s rolls and mandating costly coverage benefits that compel companies to dump their employees in the law’s exchanges, where they can get taxpayer-subsidized insurance.

So much for President Obama’s promise that health reform would “build on what works” and “fix what’s broken.”

The AHPI study found that employers spent $3,430 on health care per person in 2012. By contrast, government programs spent $9,130.

The study makes clear that some of the spending difference is due to the fact that Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Health Administration tend to serve older, sicker, or special-needs populations.

Read the full article here.

Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.