Benefits

The Affordable Care Act set affordability limits on group health plans. It also set significant penalties for failure to offer affordable plans. You need to use the new calculations to determine affordability of your plans.

Posted on January 29, 2025 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Benefit Card, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Health and Welfare Team

When it seems like every letter of the alphabet has been thrown at you, we want to help you understand the similarities and differences between all of these different types of health care accounts available to employers to offer to their employees.

Posted on January 24, 2025 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
401(k), 
Administration, 
Benefit Card, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Excepted Benefit HRA (EBHRA), 
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), 
FSA / HSA / HRA, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA), 
Health Savings Accounts (HSA), 
HR Compliance, 
Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA)

Apparently, when Christmas and Chanukah fall on the same day, Congress and the President believe a gift to employers is in order.

Two bills were signed into law on December 23, 2024. These two Acts change the requirements for distributing IRS Form 1095s to all employees, and much more.

Posted on December 31, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Total Rewards

Your retirement plan offering is a valuable tool for recruiting and retaining talent, as well as helping your employees prepare for their retirement.  But, what if something were to happen to him or her before they could enjoy the savings they’ve worked so hard for?

Posted on December 11, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
401(k), 
Administration, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
Cash Balance, 
Combo Plans, 
Defined Contribution Plan, 
Money Purchase, 
Profit Sharing, 
Retirement Plans

Employers that offer High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) that provide telehealth benefits before the participant meets their annual deductible may need to amend their plan prior to their plan's year-end. The reason for this is that...

Posted on December 5, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Administration, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
COBRA, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Savings Accounts (HSA), 
HR Compliance, 
Summary Plan Descriptions

In an era where attracting and retaining employees is paramount to an organization’s success, a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) is a valuable addition to employee benefits. LSAs can significantly boost employee engagement by providing flexibility and control over their benefits.

Posted on October 8, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), 
FSA / HSA / HRA, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA), 
Health Savings Accounts (HSA), 
Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA), 
Total Rewards

Employers that offer prescription drug benefits are required to provide an annual notice to all Medicare-eligible plan participants and qualified beneficiaries before October 15th of each year, the start of the Medicare open enrollment period. Most send it to all participants.

Posted on September 23, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Administration, 
All Articles, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
HR Compliance, 
Total Rewards

The IRS has released the 2025 ACA affordability percentage. Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) are subject to the affordability rules of the ACA. ALEs are defined as those employers who have 50 or more full-time equivalents during the appropriate Measurement Period.

Posted on September 9, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Health and Welfare Team

Rather than seek out retirement plan consulting, many employers offer a take-it-or-leave-it retirement plan design from their payroll or other provider. They assume that all 401(k) plans are the same, not paying attention to the details. After all, don't we just have to say we have a plan?

Posted on July 15, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
401(k), 
Administration, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
Defined Contribution Plan, 
Money Purchase, 
Plan Document Services (RPS), 
Profit Sharing, 
Retirement Plans, 
Total Rewards

We're often asked if vitamins of any kind (multivitamin, specific vitamins [such as B12, D, or K for example]) or others are eligible for reimbursement under a health care flexible spending account (FSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA).

Posted on June 19, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Administration, 
Benefit Card, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), 
FSA / HSA / HRA, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA), 
Talent Management, 
Team Rewards

Spousal Incentive HRAs aren't new. But they're getting new exposure as a means of helping employers control health care costs, increasing employee recruiting and retention, and aiding employees when they have choices between two group health plans to elect a spouse's coverage over the employer's.

Posted on June 12, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
FSA / HSA / HRA, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA), 
Team Rewards, 
Total Rewards

As we explained previously, funding for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was supposed to end with filings and fees for plan years that began before October 1, 2019. In the words of the great philosopher Emily Litella, “Never mind.”

Posted on June 10, 2024 By Kushner & Company
Categories: 
Administration, 
Benefits, 
Blog, 
COBRA, 
ERISA-ACA Compliance, 
FSA / HSA / HRA, 
Health and Welfare Team, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA)