Most employers to continue offering health care plans in 2014
Source: Business Insurance
By Jerry Geisel
The overwhelming majority of employers say they will continue to offer health care plans after core provisions of the health care reform law take effect in 2014, but most say they will need to make plan changes later to avoid a new excise tax on the most costly plans, according to a new survey.
Eighty-eight percent of employers surveyed by Towers Watson & Co. said they have no plans to terminate coverage in 2014 or after for full-time employees, while 11% were not sure. Just 1% said they planned to terminate coverage for some employees.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, starting in 2014, employers with at least 50 employees are liable for a fee of $2,000 per full-time employee if they do not offer qualified coverage to employees working at least 30 hours a week.
The Towers Watson survey results mirror numerous other surveys also reporting that most employers intend to continue to provide coverage. Benefit experts say there are several reasons for that continued employer commitment to offering coverage, including the penalty imposed by the law for not offering coverage, the costs employers would face in grossing up employees’ salaries to enable them to buy coverage on their own and the need for employers to stay competitive.
On other hand, 83% of employers say they are planning to take steps to control costs to avoid a health reform law-imposed excise tax that takes effect in 2018. Under that provision, a 40% excise tax will be imposed on premium costs that exceed $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. Insurers will pay the tax on plans they insure, while third-party administrators will pay the tax for self-funded plans. Insurers and TPAs are expected to recover the taxes they paid from employer plans.
Other findings include:
• Employers expect health care plan costs to rise—after plan changes—by an average of 5.3% in 2013, boosting total costs to an average of $11,507 per employee. That compares with an expected 2012 average cost increase of 5.9%.
• Employer interest in offering account-based health care plans, such as plans linked to health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements—continues to grow. While nearly 60% of respondents now offer account-based plans, by 2018, 80% expect to be offering them.
The survey is based on the responses of 440 employers.
Hot HSA's
A new study by Devenir found that the number of health savings accounts (HSAs) has increased to more than 7 million as of June 30, 2012, with assets totaling more than $14 billion. That's a 12 percent jump in accounts and a 21 percent rise in assets over the same time last year. HSA participants have kept 30 percent of their contributions this year, compared with 24 percent in 2011.
7 Simple Ways to Relieve Stress Now
By Jane Porter
Source: Entrepreneur.com
In 2010, eight years into running her tutoring company, Ann Peaslee was reaching a breaking point. She was taking care of her ailing mother while trying to meet the demands of her business, Lehigh Valley, Pa.-based P.R.E.P. LLC. The web designer she'd hired wasn't following through on plans and Peaslee's ads weren't generating as much business as she'd anticipated. Then, one night during a thunderstorm, her house got struck by lightning, knocking out her business phone line.
To cope with the stress and keep focused, Peaslee began what she calls a "walk and talk" at least once a week. She walked the neighborhood streets with a friend for an hour and talked through whatever had been bothering her. "You are getting rid of your anxiety by just getting it out," she says. "It puts you back in the right perspective."
Incorporating a stress relief routine in your workday requires time and effort. But here are seven quick and easy techniques that may work for you:
1. Count your breath. Taking deep breaths and lengthening your exhale relative to your inhale will calm your sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for triggering your fight or flight response, says Timothy McCall, author of Yoga As Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing (Bantam, 2007). Counting the length of your inhale and exhale and gradually lengthening how long you take to exhale will help counter this stress response. If you take four seconds to inhale, for example, work to lengthen your exhale so that it lasts eight seconds. While every person's breath count will be different, taking 10 breaths like this can help calm your mind and body.
Related: 13 Tips to Stay Motivated in the Dog Days of Summer
2. Sing it out. If sitting quietly and counting your breaths sounds impossible or unappealing, you can sing or hum to achieve a similar effect. When you sing or hum, you are naturally lengthening your exhale, which will slow your breathing and help calm you, McCall says. Be sure to breathe in and out of your nose as you do this. If the idea of singing or humming in the office seems silly, do it in your car on the way to work.
3. Drink more water. When your hydration level drops by even 2 percent, your ability to do simple math and make decisions is disrupted, says Mike Collins, founder of the Perfect Workday, a Raleigh, N.C., company that focuses on workplace effectiveness. "The more hydrated you stay, the better you think." Try keeping a pint-sized container of water by your desk that you refill three or four times a day.
Related: 7 Ways You're Wasting Time and Don't Even Know It
4. Do a body scan. Redirecting your focus away from your worries and toward your physical body for a minute or two can help alleviate stress, says Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk and co-founder of Headspace, a U.K.-based company that teaches meditation and mindfulness techniques to business professionals. Close your eyes and take half a minute to do a mental scan of your body starting at the top of the head. Notice the sensation of your feet on the floor, your body in your chair and your hands on the desk. Repeat this scan two or three times. Rather than being stuck in your loop of worries, you're turning your attention to the sensations of your body. "By shifting the focus to physical senses, you are stepping out of the thinking mind and bringing the mind into the body, which immediately has a calming effect," Puddicombe says.
5. Keep vacation photos handy. Another way to escape from stressful thoughts is to keep vacation photos or postcards nearby. When you feel stressed, look at an image for a moment, close your eyes and try to imagine all the sensations you were feeling in that place--what you saw, smelled, felt, heard and tasted. This technique will calm you by focusing your attention on the physical sensations of your body as you visualize a particularly relaxing place. "Try to activate each of the five senses," says Margaret Wehrenberg, author of The 10 Best Ever Anxiety Management Techniques (WW Norton 2009). "It's literally the antithesis of stress for a minute."
Related: Six Signs You Need a Break From the Startup Grind
6. Create a ritual. Instead of rushing to grab a cup of coffee or scarfing a snack, make a ritual of it, says Puddicombe. Take the time to notice the sounds, feel and smells of what you're preparing--whether it's a cup of tea or fresh fruit. Such a daily ritual can be soothing, helping you focus on something other than your thoughts, Puddicombe says. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it's something you have positive associations with.
7. Laugh out loud. Humor is the opposite of stress, according to John Morreall, president of Williamsburg, Va.-based Humorworks, which focuses on using humor in team-building exercises and other workplace activities. "In a stressful situation, you are emotionally engaged with some problem," he says. "When you laugh at a situation, you are distanced from the problem." To find relief in humor, Collins watches a YouTube video of a flash mob in Moscow dancing to "Puttin' on the Ritz." That never fails to make him laugh.
Chronic Woes
The number of Americans suffering from multiple chronic conditions has grown over the past decade, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The percentage of Americans ages 45-64 with two or more chronic conditions jumped from 16 percent to 21 percent between 1999-2000 and 2009-10, according to the report. For older adults, the rate jumped to 45 percent from 37 percent over the same time period.
3 Ways Healthcare Tax Increases Affect Your Business
By Linda Doell
Source: OpenForum.com
If you don't know what's in the healthcare law and how it impacts your business, you're not alone.
A Wall Street Journal survey of small businesses in June found that two-thirds of small-business owners didn't know if their companies qualified for one of the key provisions of the law—a tax credit to offset the cost of providing insurance for their workers.
What's more, business groups and merchants alike have said the requirements are too complex for them to want to take advantage of programs under the law. Let's take a look at three ways the Affordable Care Act will effect your small business.
1. Small business tax credits. To qualify, companies must have less than 25 full-time equivalent workers, pay average yearly wages below $50,000 and pay at least 50% of the health-care coverage cost for their employees.
In return, small businesses get a tax credit up to 35% of its premium costs. In 2014, the tax credit rate increases to 50% of the premium costs. The tax credit will phase out for companies with average wages between $25,000 and $50,000, or businesses with employee numbers that add up to 10 to 25 full-time workers.
The government estimated 4 million small businesses were eligible for the tax credit. Just 170,300, however, claimed the tax credit in 2010, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a May report. Of that number, only 28,100 businesses were able to claim the full tax credit because of the average wage or full-time equivalent requirements. The rest of the businesses got a partial tax credit.
The low participation was partially due to small businesses not viewing "the credit as big enough incentive to begin offering health insurance," the report said. "While some small employers could be eligible for the credit if they began to offer health insurance, small business group representatives and discussion group participants told us that the credit may not offset costs enough to justify a new outlay for health insurance premiums."
The report also cited the complexity of the tax credit requirements being a deterrent to more employers seeking it.
2. Insurance mandate for small business. Beginning in 2014, businesses with more than 50 employees must either offer healthcare coverage or face paying a fine of $2,000 a year for each full-time worker over the first 30 employees if at least one of its workers is getting a tax credit for coverage.
The healthcare coverage itself must meet minimum standards or the business would risk more fines. Each state would set the minimum standards for policies issued within its borders. The states have to ensure the essentials healthcare package includes categories such as preventive care, hospital and doctor visits and maternity care.
Business groups and owners have voiced concern over the mandate, fearing it will drive up operation costs and force them to cut back on workers to make ends meet.
"Employers are left trying to financially prepare for unknown conditions such as the household income of their employees, leaving little certainty for their business," National Federation of Independent Business President and CEO Dan Danner says in a statement. "What’s more, those employers who are in a position to expand their operations may be inhibited from doing so if they want to avoid the 50 plus one threshold of the employer mandate."
3. Small business exchanges. By 2014, states are required to set up exchanges where small businesses can pool their resources—and therefore their buying power—to get health insurance.
Called "Small Business Health Options Programs," the exchanges will be administered by either a state agency or a nonprofit group and be open to companies with up to 100 workers. Each state also has the option to let larger businesses buy insurance from the exchange as well.
Linda is an award-winning journalist with more than more than 20 years' experience as a reporter, editor and blogger. Linda blogs via Contently.com.
Foul Mouths
A new survey by CareerBuilder finds that 95 percent of employees use foul language around their co-workers, while more than half swear in front of the boss. While foul mouths may be common, most employers still view cussing as crass behavior, with 64 percent saying they'd have a lower opinion of an employee who repeatedly used bad language.
On Site Plans
Employers that have started online health clinics are looking to expand their services in the future, according to a new report published in LifeHealthPro. The report notes that 62 percent of companies support the clinics to eliminate visits to offsite providers. Cost savings (57 percent) and better access to care (46 percent) also rate as top reasons that companies start or retain onsite clinics, the study found.
Summary of Benefits and Coverage and the Uniform Glossary
The Health Care Reform law requires plan sponsors to provide two new government-developed documents to plan participants. The "Summary of Benefits and Coverage" (SBC) and the "Uniform Glossary" are intended to provide high-level descriptions of a plan (and definitions of standard terms) and are in addition to the ERISA requirement to provide a Summary Plan Description (SPD). An SBC need not be provided for plans, policies, or benefits packages that constitute excepted benefits. If a plan sponsor intends to make any material modifications in coverage, such as increases in cost-sharing or benefit reductions, the law requires the sponsor to notify participants at least 60 days before the modifications become effective. Penalties for non-compliance are significant.
The federal agencies published final regulations and template versions of the SBC and Uniform Glossary on February 9, 2012. The final regulations are very similar to the proposed regulations. The templates were developed by the National Association of Insurance commissioners for insurance policies and the final regulations relaxed the requirement about completing the template "as is". If the plan's terms cannot reasonably be described "in a manner consistent with the template and instructions, the plan or issuer must accurately describe the relevant plan terms while using its best efforts to do so in a manner that is still consistent with the instructions and template format as reasonably possible.". Plan sponsors (or their health insurance carriers) must begin distributing the SBC to participants and beneficiaries eligible to enroll in group health coverage through an open enrollment period beginning on the first day of the first open enrollment period that begins on or after September 23, 2012. For participants and beneficiaries who enroll in group health plan coverage other than through an open enrollment period, the requirements begin on the first day of the first plan year that begins on or after September 23, 2012. Distribution is required with enrollment materials, by the first day of coverage if there are changes since the enrollment, upon renewal, and upon request. An SBC may be distributed in paper or electronic form. The Uniform Glossary may also be distributed in paper or electronic form, but distribution is required only upon request. Click here to see a completed SBC template.
Social Disconnect
A new survey finds that employers and employees don't see eye-to-eye on the role of social media in the workplace, a new Deloitte LLP survey suggests. For instance, 45 percent of executives said social media has a positive effect on the culture of their workplaces, while only 27 percent of employees agreed. Also, 38 percent of corporate leaders said they thought social media generated more transparency in the workplace, compared with only 17 percent of employees.
Employers Backtrack on Background Checks
New regulations on criminal background checks are raising questions among employers about the balance between a safe workplace and following the rules.
The practice of conducting criminal background checks is still common among U.S. employers, but the rate is dropping. Fourteen percent of employers polled by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) do not conduct any criminal background checks on candidates, according to a Workforce report. That compares with 7 percent in 2010.
The SHRM study found complying with state laws and reducing legal liability for negligent hiring were the top reasons companies employ background checks.
"[Employers] are looking more closely at the job-relatedness of these practices," said Mark Schmit, SHRM's vice president of research. "As a result, fewer employers are using background checks, and checks are often done for specific jobs or to comply with the law."
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) seems to back this trend, according to recent guidance released by the agency. The EEOC recommends that companies skip the screenings unless they are relevant to the job and that HR and managers conduct "individualized" reviews of candidates with criminal backgrounds to avoid running afoul with Title VII, according to Human Resource Executive Online.
While those rules may lead to fewer but more targeted background checks, employers see a "Catch-22" scenario brewing, Gerald L. Maatman Jr. of law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP told HREO.
"You either hire someone who could hurt your workforce, or you get in trouble for not complying with the EEOC mandate and EEOC enforcement," Maatman said.
In addition to the safety fears, employers have to deal with the costs associated with "individualized" analysis of each job candidate with a criminal record, Mattman added.
"A lot of my clients are saying, 'I could comply if I had buckets of money to spend to administer this,'" he said.
Some employers simply are refusing to comply with the rules, William Tate of HR Plus told HREO. But he cautions against this move, noting that there's a way for employers to appease the EEOC and maintain a safe and productive workforce.
The costs to satisfy Title VII aren't exorbitant, and the EEOC provides a good checklist that will help employers when making individualized assessments, Tate said. For compliance tips on this issue, visit:https://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/pages/eeocguidancecrime.aspx