Zack Pace

Should employers run special mid-year 2020 full, partial, or limited open enrollments and / or take advantage of special FSA design flexibility? A decision tree.

Three real-life employer examples related to benefits continuation during a furlough or layoff. What are the considerations?

Following critical feedback and possible IRS conflicts, an HHS FAQ walks back recent pharmacy rules.

Which items should be added to the 2020 benefits to do list?

What do employers need to know about point-of-sale prescription drug rebates?

What can midsize employers sponsoring self-funded health plans do to weather this storm?

Here's what happened when an employer used gamification to develop a benefits plan.

What are the similarities between remodeling a bathroom and remodeling a group health plan?

The HHS just released the federal poverty level thresholds — important info for many employers as they set their employee contributions for their health plans.

For employers sponsoring high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts, ensuring that the HDHP continuously remains HSA-qualified is no easy task. This checklist can help.

The IRS increased the annual contribution limit for flexible spending accounts late in the year — but is it worth the hassle to make changes to your plan?

The budgetary challenge of this on-again, off-again Congressional approach is that when the tax returns, fully insured renewals naturally go up about 4% more than they would have otherwise.

EBN columnist Zack Pace talks with Robert Skelton, chief administrative officer of ASAE, about the changing AHP landscape.

Here’s why it’s important: When it comes to benefit plan cost management, pennies make nickels and nickels make quarters.

What is the true value of out-of-network benefits?

A Q&A with Michael Zucarelli, PharmD re the evolving pharmacy benefit & PBM landscape.

Confusingly, it’s the end of COBRA continuation eligibility that creates the loss of coverage triggering a special enrollment period in the individual health insurance marketplaces/exchanges, not the end of employer-subsidized COBRA.

If an employer receives the dreaded IRS Letter 226J, what should they do next?

Which items should be on the 2018 benefit to do list of CFOs, HR Professionals, and Benefit Managers?

7 ways to tidy up the benefits pantry before the new year.

What's the critical difference between asset sales and stock sales when it comes to benefit management?

A story from my childhood and its applicable lesson regarding group health plan employee contribution design.

How to ensure that Treasury's 2018 affordability percentage reduction doesn't create an employer shared responsibility penalty.

In this Q&A, I overcomplicate the riddle and Janet implicitly reminds us of Occam's razor.

Can you articulate your company’s group health plan employee contribution strategy? How does the math work?

Let's explore the top 9 misconceptions about Section 125 benefits.

Why we should remind our employees about the availability and value of these tools.

How do turn the endowment effect on its head.

How to use Cadillac tax mitigation strategies to similarly mitigate any future reductions in Section 125 tax benefits.

A healthcare consumerism story.

A Q&A with my colleague Bill Smith, from our national tax office.

How to use the duck test to eliminate health plan penalty risks.

How employers can prepare for the impact of the proposed federal regulations.

Exploring the impact of the approaching moratorium, the ways employers can use it to their financial advantage and what might happen when it ends in 2018.

10 quick questions that will flush out possible areas of focus.

Exploring the economic and societal challenges associated with spousal exclusion policies.

Why suspending logic and seeking out hidden financial incentives in fully insured plans can lead to better financial outcomes.

The knowledge that the employer is paying the claims of the plan can dramatically change an employee's entire outlook on health benefits and total compensation.

Why this benefit could increase employee productivity, wellbeing and profitability.

How employers can use their old Cadillac Tax mitigation reports to similarly mitigate the impact of possible Section 125 caps.

The radically simple technique that eliminates 98% of the hassles associated with ACA Employer Shared Responsibility.

My 2016 list of the key ACA items that have been repealed or delayed and those that we should continue to keep a keen eye on.

8 ways employers sponsoring long term disability insurance benefits can improve the benefit's plan design, structure, and overall value.

Why employers sponsoring self-funded medical benefits should place prescription drugs underneath the stop loss insurance.

Another 8 ACA myths employers should be aware of.

Exploring why the precise calculation of an employer's annual full-time employee + full-time equivalent employee count is so important and why estimating the number can lead to disastrous results.

We discussed an alternative to health plan spousal exclusions and the approaching Cadillac Tax Hurricane.

A listing of 13 common myths and truths about the Affordable Care Act.

Exploring the challenges of spousal exclusion policies, describing a gentler alternative, and outlining two quick case studies.

Describing the steps needed to accomplish two ACA Employer chores:
1. Finalizing the strategy for preparing, distributing, and e-filing the 2015 Form 1095-C & 1094-C.
2. Beginning initial preparations for mitigating the 2018 ACA Cadillac Tax.

Q&A for employers regarding the impact of changing HSA contributions from pre-tax to post-tax in the face of the approaching 2018 Cadillac Tax hurricane.

Ten tips for employers to consider as they finalize their strategy for completing and filing the 2015 ACA Form 1095-C and Form 1094-C (AKA ACA Shared Responsibility Reporting).

Exploring why supply and demand influence the distribution and price of health care, why network discounts increase total employee compensation, and how plan participants are free to negotiate directly with out-of-network physicians.

How to apply Wagner Dodge's legendary story and insight to present day business challenges.

My six favorite pieces of business advice.

How I identified and replaced my poor business habits by tracking my business hours in blocks of time.

Step by step instructions employers can use to assess if their organization could financially benefit from self-funding their dental and / or short term disability benefit programs.

6 Affordable Care Act compliance items to double-check.

Why I came to believe three statements I rejected in my youth.

A description of the challenges of spousal exclusion policies and an alternative method to consider.

Why I’d rather Aim for an A+ in everything worth pursuing and occasionally capture a magical moment.

The difference between Gold Health Plans offered by employers and ACA Exchange Gold Plans.

If I was turning 22 now, what advice would I give myself?

What I learned about Health Reimbursement Arrangements & Health Savings Accounts.

A quick primer on the Safe Harbor that’s much easier to manage than the Box 1, W-2 income option.

What happens when you swim in a jar of ACA horseradish for 4 years.

A description of the comprehensive financial analysis needed to determine the total cost of dropping group health benefits in our post-ACA landscape.

Why strong employer / employee partnerships are an effective means of controlling the costs of self-funded medical plans.

Why the ACA’s reliance on 90 day deadlines requires that employers cannot use the standard first of the month effective dates that HR professionals and employees prefer.

A 5 step process employers can use to reduce their 2014 Health Care Reform penalty risk by reclassifying their temporary employees into the four permitted categories: full-time, seasonal, variable hour, part-time.

A 6 step voluntary benefit audit process employers can use to streamline coverage, improve benefits, and reduce employee costs.

A 5 step process employers can use to assess their 2014 Health Care Reform penalty risk.