Health and Welfare Team

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.”

In a CNBC article, Kushner & Company President Gary Kushner is quoted on the issue of coverage of newer weight-loss prescription drugs in small to mid-sized employers' group health plans.

As a time-tested HSA company, Kushner & Company knows that managing a Health Savings Account (HSA) for your employees requires an experienced TPA utilizing modern technology tools for both you and your participants. Here are eleven important questions to ask of your current or prospective TPA.

The IRS has now released all of the 2024 benefit limits. These include both the cafeteria and health plan limits as well as all of the qualified retirement plan limits.

Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

When it comes to FSA, HRA, and HSA administration, plans are technical and require significant oversight. But by working with a highly skilled third-party administrator (TPA), employers can be supported in these tasks, assured their plans run smoothly, and in compliance with all requirements.

Employers who maintain a retirement plan for their employees are very familiar with the requirement to file an IRS Form 5500 and associated schedules each year.  However, many employers are unaware that they may also have a 5500 requirement for their health and welfare plans.

The Affordable Care Act set affordability limits on group health plans. It also set significant penalties for failure to offer affordable plans. Potentially there's a huge increase coming in 2024 for employers' share of the costs.