Employee termination can be difficult to navigate whether the employee quits, is laid off, furloughed, or fired. Whatever the reason, employees leave; and terminating an employee’s benefits coverage can seem like a time-consuming task. But it doesn’t have to be with SBMA’s Web ECI portal.
Employee termination can be difficult to navigate whether the employee quits, is laid off, furloughed, or fired. Whatever the reason, employees leave; and terminating an employee’s benefits coverage can seem like a time-consuming task. But it doesn’t have to be with SBMA’s Web ECI portal.
At SBMA, we support the termination of an employee’s benefits coverage in our one-stop-shop employer portal.
Businesses that provide health benefits for their employee workforce must submit the right forms proving that they offered the required benefits. Now that 1094/1095 filing is complete, it’s time to prepare for federally mandated annual PCORI fees. Are you prepared? Let’s discuss 1094, 1095, and PCORI compliance.
Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), employers with 50 or more full-time employees, must offer Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant health benefits to at least 95% of their workforce. Failure to do so can result in hefty fines and penalties from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The IRS can issue ALEs Penalty A or Penalty B fines for ea
ch employee that is not offered correct or compliant benefit plans. Employers can avoid unnecessary fines and penalties by offering ACA Compliant Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC). MEC benefit plans allow employers to provide affordable benefits to their employees without compromising their bottom line.
In order to verify employers are, in fact, offering ACA compliant benefits, the IRS requires employers to fill out form 1094 and 1095.
Employers must complete Form 1094, which is used to determine their liability for payment under the employers’ shared responsibility provision. Form 1095, however, is used as a summary of healthcare information the ALE offers employees.
One of the many services we provide at SBMA Benefits is 1094 and 1095 Form processing. We simplify the complexity of providing employee benefits while simultaneously ensuring ACA compliance.
After submitting Forms 1094 and 1095 by their due date, March 31st, employers must pay fees to the Patient-Centered Research Institute (PCORI) by July 31st. This year, however, the due date has been extended to August 2nd since the previously mentioned due date lands on a Saturday.
PCORI was created to improve the quality, quantity, timeliness, and trustworthiness of health information for patients.
According to the PCORI, its mission is to “help people make informed healthcare decisions, and improve healthcare delivery and outcomes, by producing and promoting high-integrity, evidence-based information that comes from research guided by patients, caregivers, and the broader healthcare community.”
Employers are responsible for paying PCORI trust fund fees annually. The amount employers owe depends on the number of people enrolled in their offered benefits program.
The fee is calculated based on the average number of individuals covered in a benefits plan- including spouses, dependents, retirees, and COBRA participants. Currently, PCORI fees are $2.79 per enrollee. In 2021, PCORI fees cost $2.66 per enrollee.
The fee was slated to end in 2019, but was extended via Trump’s Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020. For now, PCORI fees are extended through 2029.
For more information on Forms 1094 and 1095, read our article: What you need to know about 1094/1095 Filing.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) are businesses that have at least 50 full-time, or full-time equivalent employees in one calendar year. Under federal law, they must provide at least 95% of their employees and their children up to age 26 with Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant coverage.
Why? Because the ACA was designed to make healthcare services affordable to more people.
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.
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.
Plan sponsors are no longer allowed, under the No Surprises Act (NSA), to bill an insurer more than the in-network cost for emergency services. The goal of this new piece of legislation is to reduce surprise medical billing costs for the insured seeking emergency services.
COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Under this Act, group health plans are required to provide temporary benefits and group health coverage to individuals who experience adverse events, such as job termination. In the United States, COBRA is a continuation of health coverage for workers for a certain period of time.
The holidays are like finals for adults—you spend weeks preparing in anticipation, all leading up to a few days of stress, and then go time for the big event. Holidays can be a stressful time of the year, to say the least.Physical activity doesn’t always mean an intense hour-long workout at the gym every day. While this form of exercise has great benefits, it’s not for everyone.