Employee Retention Archives

Understanding the Affordable Care Act Individual Mandate

July 17, 2022/in ACA Compliance, Employee Retention, Employer Resources, MEC

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) implemented the individual mandate, also known as the “individual shared responsibility provision” that requires that most Americans have a qualifying Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC).

Until 2018, those who did not prove themselves to have health insurance when filing taxes were penalized. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 then eliminated that requirement. This bill effectively eliminated the individual mandate penalty, as of 2019 on a federal level.

Retaining Employees with Minimum Essential Coverage Plans

July 10, 2022/in Employee Retention, MEC

Over the past two years, employees have been leaving their jobs in record numbers. In fact, this phenomenon, termed The Great Resignation, resulted in 20 million people leaving their jobs in the second half of 2021 alone. Due to mass resignations, employers are searching for solutions to successfully recruit and retain employees.
There are, of course, a variety of factors that contribute to an employee’s decision to leave or stay with a company. Today, we’ll be discussing just one of these factors: How health benefits can contribute to employee recruitment and retention.

How Does SBMA Support Employee Benefits Administration?

May 17, 2022/in Employee Retention, News, Voluntary Benefits

Employee benefits administration can be a pain for any HR department. At SBMA, we aim to simplify the process by giving you access to everything you need in one place. Our enrollment portal houses everything you need for:

Onboarding
Offboarding
Enrollment
Portal assistance

Our employee benefits professionals have the knowledge and expertise that can save your company time and money. We aim to offer comprehensive benefit management, not only with our portal, but also as it pertains to ACA compliance, providing low-cost options, and offering fast and reliable service.

The convenience of SBMA’s employee benefits administration support allows your Human Resources department to work on their daily tasks and responsibilities without the headache of a difficult benefits administrator. Our one-stop-shop portal helps reduce the paperwork your HR department has to deal with and therefore, improves your bottom line.

Employer Resources

Our website is equipped with plenty of employer resources that give easy and secure access to your records and the ability to make plan changes at your fingertips (i.e. (enrollment portal, adding dependents, employee termination, and more). Adjusting benefit plans couldn’t be any easier with SBMA. Additionally, every task includes video tutorials, walkthroughs, and instructions.

Watch the videos below to see just how easy navigating our portal is.

Enrollment Portal Walkthrough

Adding Dependents Walkthrough

Termination Walkthrough

Partnering with us takes the burden off of your HR department and places it on us, your benefits administrator. Ready to get started? Reach out to us today.

In this effort to streamline and simplify our client’s benefits experience, we’ve partnered with Transamerica. Transamerica’s partnership with SBMA brings you quality, affordable health insurance that fits into your budget and removes the hassle of excess submissions to insurance carriers. Take a look at the full explanation of how this partnership impacts your benefits administration here.

What Happens if Your Employee Misses Open Enrollment?

February 20, 2022/in ACA Compliance, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, MEC, Open Enrollment, Personal

There are strict deadlines for open enrollment each year. It opens nationally on November 1st, and closes on January 15th. Some states, such as New York and California, have extended deadlines through January 31st. Click here to see your state’s open enrollment period.

During this period, people have the opportunity to enroll in healthcare coverage, or change their plans. Failing to take action during this time can pose serious consequences because open enrollment is the time employers can take advantage of having health, dental, vision, life and other voluntary benefit insurance plans.

Record Number of People Enroll in Health Insurance Coverage

February 13, 2022/in ACA Compliance, Brokers, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, MEC, News, Open Enrollment

Open enrollment for health insurance in the United States begins annually on November 1st and ends on January 15th. Some states, like California, however, extend the enrollment date for residents to the end of January.

Over the past few years, enrollment rates dipped due to funding cuts from the previous administration for advertisements and navigators aiding sign-ups for coverage.

How the Build Back Better Bill Affects ACA Compliance

January 23, 2022/in ACA Compliance, Brokers, Employee Retention, MEC, News, Personal

The Build Back Better framework, created by the current administration, is engineered to “set the United States on course to meet its climate goals, create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out”. One of the elements of the bill allocates $165 billion to healthcare spending and support. $35 billion is earmarked for adding hearing services to existing Medicare coverage with $130 billion earmarked for Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits, including coverage for previously uncovered states.

Opt-in vs Opt-out Health Insurance: What You Need to Know

October 17, 2021/in Employee Engagement, Employee Retention

Large employers offering employees health benefits need to choose between opting all employees in automatically, encouraging them to opt-in, or making them opt out of health benefits. When it comes to health insurance, opting in and out plays a key part in enrollment. Using the right strategy can help you as a large employer provides coverage for your employees.

How Do I Get My Employees to Sign Up for Health Insurance?

October 10, 2021/in Brokers, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention

All businesses with over 50 full-time employees are required to offer health insurance or be penalized $3,860 per uninsured employee. Our Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant MEC benefits calculator breaks down the cost of remaining incompliant vs. annual costs with MEC here. Offering Minimum Essential Coverage benefits saves over $180,000,000 annually.

Why You Should Encourage Preventative Care in Your Employee Workforce

August 1, 2021/in Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Healthy Living, MEC, Personal

Encouraging preventative care benefits your company short and long term. When employees have access to resources to support their wellbeing, they are able to utilize it to continue on a healthier trajectory to be more present and engaging during day to day tasks.

How to Promote Healthy Habits in Your Employee Workforce

July 11, 2021/in Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Healthy Living

Access to physical and mental resources promotes healthy and happy employees. When employees are healthy, both physically and mentally, it ultimately increases overall productivity in the workplace. For more information on how to promote healthy habits in your workforce, read on.

Understanding the Affordable Care Act Individual Mandate

Retaining Employees with Minimum Essential Coverage Plans

How Does SBMA Support Employee Benefits Administration?

Employer Resources

Enrollment Portal Walkthrough

Adding Dependents Walkthrough

Termination Walkthrough

What Happens if Your Employee Misses Open Enrollment?

Record Number of People Enroll in Health Insurance Coverage

How the Build Back Better Bill Affects ACA Compliance

Opt-in vs Opt-out Health Insurance: What You Need to Know

How Do I Get My Employees to Sign Up for Health Insurance?

Why You Should Encourage Preventative Care in Your Employee Workforce

How to Promote Healthy Habits in Your Employee Workforce

USEFUL LINKS

CONTACT SBMA

HOURS

FOLLOW US