Displaying items by tag: group health insurance broker
Medicaid Now Rebranded to Health First Colorado
Mental Health Compliance in the Workplace
Reminder: Key Compliance Deadline in July
Do Your Employees Travel Abroad for Business?
Understanding the Single-Payer Health Care Initiative “ColoradoCare” Amendment 69
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS IN THE WORKPLACE
Compliance Update: State Mandated Short-Term Disability Employer Requirements
HSA Contribution Limits for 2017 Set
Three Steps to More Accurate Carrier Invoices
Have you ever experienced billing or invoice issues? Frustrated with people you already terminated still showing up on your bill? Look no further as your Fall River team is here to help!
When processing eligibility changes such as enrollments, changes or terminations, you can follow these three simple steps to improve the accuracy of your carrier bills.
Step 1 – Process On Time
- If you have an impending enrollment, change or termination, it is best to get these submitted to the carrier as soon as possible to prevent any processing delay. The cutoff for the next bill is often 2-3 weeks before the end of the month, which is why people you’ve already terminated can still be showing up if you didn’t terminate them soon enough. If you want a person who’s terminating on 3/31, for example, to NOT be on your April bill, you may need to get that done as soon as 3/10, depending on your carrier and the billing cycle dates you’ve selected.
- If terminations are not submitted prior to the actual termination date, carriers do have the right to bill you for the following month of coverage. It’s the most common billing issue and unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done about it. In the Colorado fully insured market for groups with 2-99 employees, carriers will not allow terminations after the effective date unless proof of other coverage is provided. So, that 3/31 term MUST be done on or before 3/31, otherwise you may be tracking down a copy of the employee’s next ID card before the term can be done.
Step 2 – Process Online
- Most carriers offer an Online Employer Portal for managing eligibility and paying premium invoices. The fastest way by far to process any eligibility enrollment, change or termination is to complete them online, as most carriers will update their systems in real-time or within 24 hours of the transaction. If you need help obtaining a login and password for an Employer Portal or would like additional training for your carrier-specific portal, please contact your Fall River Account Executive.
- Billing and invoicing cycles vary from carrier to carrier. The invoice should show your due dates, remittance details (including overnight payment or wire transfer options) and/or other carrier-specific instructions.
- If you have signed up to receive electronic invoices, carriers will typically email you in advance when the invoice is ready to view. But watch out…sometimes these emails will appear in your junk folder and could go unnoticed unless you check that folder regularly.
Step 3 – Audit Your Bill
- As soon as you receive your premium invoice, whether paper or electronic, try to reconcile it with your records as soon as possible - the sooner the better while it is still fresh in your mind. If you notice any concerns, reach out to your Fall River Account Executive and we can help you get it resolved. Clients have called us after finally noticing errors that have been on the bill for many months – it is very difficult to help you get your money back if too much time has passed.
- Most carriers do not allow self-adjusting and require that you pay your invoice as billed. There can be serious consequences to short-paying your bill, up to and including termination. If there are folks on your invoice you’ve already terminated, the invoice will auto-adjust next month to credit the premiums back.
- If payments aren’t received within the 31 day grace period, carriers may terminate coverage and it can be difficult to reinstate. To prevent a lapse in coverage, make payments by the due date or call the carrier to discuss financial arrangements, and don’t self-adjust (ie short-pay) your bill.
We hope these tips are helpful – please feel free to call us at any time at 303.369.3200 with any billing challenges you may be having.
Is the Cadillac Tax Dead?
On Friday, December 18th, Congress passed and the President signed a very significant Omnibus spending bill. This bill includes several tax relief measures related to the ACA:
- A two year delay (from 2018 to 2020) on the Excise Tax, commonly known as the Cadillac Tax
- A two year moratorium (2017-18) on the medical device tax that is currently in effect
- A one year moratorium (2017) on the ACA insurer tax which has been built into all fully insured premiums since 2014
Each of these changes is a temporary rather than permanent elimination of these taxes. The moratorium on the latter two taxes, since they are already in effect, may result in a slight easing of your 2017 renewal increase if you have a fully insured medical plan (self funded plans are not subject to the health insurer tax, which is by far the larger of the two). In the absence of new legislation to make the changes permanent, the restoring of the insurer tax two years later could then bump up the 2019 fully insured renewal increases, much as employers experienced in 2014 when this tax first went into effect.
The great debate that will continue is whether these bills increase the likelihood of eliminating the taxes altogether. While many employers are in favor of permanent elimination, the costs of even the temporary elimination could result in a significant addition to the national deficit, since there were no corresponding “pay for’s” in the legislation to replace the lost revenue. Permanent elimination could add quite a bit more to the deficit, which affects us all as taxpayers.
The spending bill also included some notable features unrelated to the Affordable Care Act, such as the extension of healthcare benefits for 9/11 first responders, the removal of the ban on U.S. exports of crude oil, and an extension of a business tax credit for research and solar/wind credits, as well as other popular tax deductions. Notably for employers with Section 132 pre-tax parking and transit benefits, the bill awarded equal status between transit and parking, allowing a monthly income exclusion of up to $250 for both transit passes/vanpools as well as parking.
If you have any questions about the impacts of this bill on your ACA planning or compliance, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.