Failure to file or failure to file required Form 5500s on time can prove to be costly for an employer as daily penalties are assessed for late or missing filings.

July is a big month for Form 5500 filing. An employer that has health and welfare benefit plans that have 100 or more participants on the 1st day of the plan year will have a filing deadline seven months from the end of the plan year, which is July 31st for calendar year plans.

June 19, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL), after considering over 900 comments on the proposed rule released a final new rule for association health plans (AHPs) and launched a webpage on AHPs. AHPs are group health plans that employer groups and associations offer to provide health coverage for their members’ employees. This new rule will provide additional ways for employers to get health coverage from AHPs.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey recently released “studies a wide array of topics related to employee benefits including employees’ knowledge of their benefits, confidence in making benefit decisions and satisfaction with their benefits package.”

There are limited times when the employer is permitted to change the premiums for COBRA QBs during the determination period.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized maximum out of pocket limits for in-network essential health benefit (EHB) services covered by a health plan for 2019 at $7,900 for single coverage and $15,800 for any coverage other than single plan.