Tag: Healthcare Reform

September-October Schedule of Events

Below is the schedule of events for September – October 2011. Please note the schedule is subject to change. Please visit the Events tab on our Facebook Page for the very latest information on Sterling events.

Speakers from Sterling are regarded as the best and most knowledgeable in the industry.

Please note that some events are Continuing Education (CE) Courses for health professionals only. Others may be events sponsored by organizations requiring membership to attend.

For more information on an event or to schedule a speaker, please contact us or phone (800) 617-4729. Please note that all event times are Pacific, unless otherwise indicated.

Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Time: 9am – 11am Eastern Time
Location: 144 Metro Center Blvd, Warwick, RI (AmWINS Call Center Building)
Topic: Redefining Value in Health Care
Type of Event: CE Course
Speaker: Christine Bettner, EVP, Business Development, Sterling HSA
Contact: Marina Weiss, Director of Sales, Sterling HSA -
marina.weiss@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 10am – 11am
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Time: 10am – 11am
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Time: 10am – 11am
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Time: 10am – 11am
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Topic: Understanding the Opportunity for Self-Insurance in the Age of Reform
Type of Event: Webinar
Contact: Morgan Anthony, Senior Director of Sales, Sterling HSA – morgan.anthony@sterlinghsa.com

No Comments by Sterling HSA on September 16, 2011
filed in Education, Events, For Producer Partners, Healthcare Reform, Self Insurance, Sterling Self Insurance Administration
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Introducing Sterling Self Insurance Administration

Are You Worried About Rising Healthcare Costs?

Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and healthcare reform adds to the burden. The option for employers to self insure is growing rapidly as a way to control costs, custom design plans that work for employers and employees, gain flexibility, and avoid some healthcare reform requirements.

Sterling Health Services Administration is very pleased to announce the launch of our subsidiary company, Sterling Self Insurance Administration. We offer employers healthcare benefit solutions that are disciplined, sustainable and controllable.

Facts About Self Insurance Growth:

  • The number of employees in the U.S. covered under self insured health plans increased from 44% in 1999 to nearly 60% today.
  • The fastest growing market segment is employer-sponsored groups with fewer than 1,000 employees, up from 29% in 2008 to 48% in 2010.

The Sterling SIA Solution:

  • Custom benefit design expertise based on employer needs, common strategies and requirements established by the self-insured pool.
  • A proprietary stop loss program designed to apply aggressive underwriting credits for the complete array of programs in our disciplined approach. Our stop loss carrier is rated “A+” (superior) by A.M. Best Company – one of the nation’s leading insurance company rating services – because of its strong financial condition and operating performance.
  • Because we understand that employers value cost predictability, we provide a rate cap guarantee in future years provided that certain conditions are met. Those conditions deal with adherence to our consumer directed health plan benefit design and rigorous application of our wellness program.
  • A proprietary Sterling HealthAssets™ account to aggregate financial rewards for employee healthy behaviors. Sources of funds include pharmacy rebates, Sterling annual funding, and the option for employers to fund based on wellness criteria.
  • Routine utilization of the CIGNA PPO Network for our clients, but other network options may be supported by the Sterling administration platform. In addition, we offer dental and vision benefits administration.
  • COBRA administration services are based on annual fees. There are no set-up fees, monthly fees or minimums. We make it easy to plan and budget.

For more information visit www.sterlingsia.com.

To become a Sterling SIA producer partner or talk with us about our wellness based self insurance solution, contact your Sterling sales representative.

Only Sterling SIA offers this integrated approach and expertise. We look forward to working with you.

Learn More About Self Insurance: www.sterlingsia.com
About Sterling HealthAssets™: www.sterlingsia.com/healthassets
Become a Sterling SIA Producer Partner: www.sterlingsia.com/producers/producer_enrollment

No Comments by Sterling HSA on July 14, 2011
filed in COBRA, Consumer Directed Health Plans, For Employers, For Producer Partners, Health & Wellness, Healthcare Reform, Self Insurance, Sterling Self Insurance Administration
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11.4 Million Covered by HSAs

AHIP has released the latest update of its annual census of the market for health savings accounts (HSAs).  As of January 2011, more than 11.4 million Americans were covered by HSA-eligible high deductible health plans (HDHPs), an increase of more than 14 percent from the prior year.

Health Savings Account Enrollment Reaches 11.4 Million

Washington, DC – More than 11.4 million Americans are covered by Health Savings Account (HSA)-eligible insurance plans, a more than 14 percent increase since last year, according to a new census by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

Health Savings Accounts were authorized starting in January 2004.  Since then, AHIP has conducted an annual census of health plans participating in the HSA health plan market. This year’s census shows that enrollment in HSA plans has nearly doubled over the last three years, from 6.1 million enrollees in January 2008 to 11.4 million in January 2011.

“HSA plans continue to be a vital source of affordable coverage for millions of families and employers across the country,” said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.

Key findings from the census include:

  • As of January 2011, approximately 11.4 million people were covered by HSA plans, an increase of more than 14 percent since last year.
  • Between January 2010 and January 2011, the fastest growing market for HSA plans was for large-group coverage, which rose by 26 percent, followed by individual market coverage, which grew by 15 percent.
  • In the individual market, 2.4 million covered lives are enrolled in HSA plans, while approximately 2.8 million lives were enrolled in HSA coverage in the small-group market and over 6.3 million lives were covered in the large-group market.
  • States with the highest levels of HSA enrollment were California (1,073,319 enrollees), Texas (844,832 enrollees), Ohio (728,868 enrollees), Illinois (690,509 enrollees), Florida (656,243 enrollees) and Minnesota (507,307 enrollees).

AHIP is reaching out to policymakers on both sides of the aisle about ways to mitigate the potential unintended consequences of provisions in the new health care reform law that could disrupt or limit the availability of coverage through HSA plans, including:

  • Restrictions on Over-the-Counter Medications: Starting this year, HSA funds can no longer be used to purchase over-the-counter (OTC) medications without a prescription.  This requirement reduces consumers’ access to common OTC drugs, such as allergy medications, and instead provides an incentive to use higher-cost prescription drug alternatives.
  • Medical Loss Ratio: The medical loss ratio (MLR) regulation is particularly problematic for HSA-eligible plans.  By Congressional design, these plans are intended to provide consumers with a high-deductible, low-premium coverage option along with the ability so save for health care expenses through an HSA.  While these plans typically have lower benefit costs, they are not necessarily less costly to administer on a per-enrollee basis, and, as a result, naturally have lower loss ratios.  Policymakers should recognize the unique nature of HSA plans to preserve consumers’ access to this important coverage option.
  • Minimum Actuarial Value Requirement: Effective in 2014, insurance coverage sold in the individual and small-group markets must meet certain minimum actuarial values for each level of coverage provided: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.  The lowest level, bronze, must have a minimum 60 percent actuarial value, which is the dollar value of the average expected benefits paid out by the plan.  The ACA directs the HHS Secretary to establish the process for determining actuarial values and states that the Secretary “may” include the amount of the annual employer HSA contributions toward the actuarial value calculation.  Including employer HSA contributions in the actuarial value calculation significantly increases the likelihood that HSA plans will meet the minimum requirement and will help ensure consumers continue to have access to the high-quality, affordable coverage they rely on today.

For the full report and slides, please visit the links below:
Full Report: http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/HSA2011.pdf
Slides: http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/HSA2011-slides.pdf

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For more information on Health Savings Accounts or Sterling Health Services Administration, visit our website or contact us at 877.617.4729.

Note: This press release originally appears here.

No Comments by Sterling HSA on June 29, 2011
filed in For Producer Partners, Health Savings Accounts, Healthcare Reform
tagged , ,

Employer Compliance Update: June 30 Deadline for FSA, HRA & HSA Amendments

Last year’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) restricted the ability of employer health plans, including flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), to reimburse expenses incurred for over-the-counter (OTC) medications.  Funds from these accounts can no longer be used to purchase items like aspirin, allergy and cold medications without a written doctor’s prescription. The pharmacist must fill prescriptions for these  items to be qualified expenses. There are still many over-the-counter medical products that can be purchased using FSA, HRA and HSA funds without a  doctor’s prescription. Examples include contact lens solutions and diabetic test kits and supplies. Accountholders should check before they purchase.

Sponsors of FSAs face a June 30, 2011 deadline for amending their plans to comply with this ACA restriction.This restriction actually became effective as of January 1, 2011. Ordinarily, the IRS requires that FSA amendments be adopted before they take effect.  Moreover, proposed IRS regulations state that any failure to satisfy this requirement results in all employee contributions to the FSA becoming taxable.  Perhaps recognizing the severity of this result, the IRS in Notice 2010-59 granted FSA sponsors an additional six months to adopt amendments designed to comply with this restriction.  That six-month extension expires on June 30, 2011.

A similar restriction applies to the reimbursement of expenses for OTC medications under health savings accounts (HSAs).  However, the consequences of non-compliance under such arrangements differ from those that apply under FSAs or HRAs.  Distributions from an individual’s HSA for OTC medications that are not prescribed by a physician are treated as “nonqualified” distributions.  They are therefore includible in the individual’s taxable income, and also subject to a 20% penalty tax.

All Sterling Health Services Administration Employers are in compliance.
No action is necessary on the part of Sterling Employers.

In amendments to their FSAs or HRAs, employers need to keep in mind several key points.  First, such an amendment should be retroactively effective as of January 1, 2011.  This date applies regardless of an arrangement’s plan year, and even if an FSA has been amended to take advantage of the two month “grace period” allowed by the IRS.  However, any expenses for OTC medications that were incurred before January 1, 2011, may still be reimbursed after that date, even without a prescription.

Another point to be addressed in any FSA or HRA amendment involves the treatment of OTC items other than medications.  Notice 2010-59 made clear that expenses for equipment (such as crutches), supplies (such as bandages), and diagnostic devices (such as blood sugar test kits) may still be reimbursed under an FSA or HRA, even without a prescription.  In other words, the prescription requirement applies only to OTC medications.

Finally, any amendment to an FSA or HRA that allows participants to use debit cards to purchase OTC medications should take into account additional IRS guidance.  For instance, Notice 2010-59 granted such arrangements an additional fifteen days (through January 15, 2011) to comply with the requirement of a physician’s prescription for an OTC medication.  IRS Notice 2011-5 then outlined specific procedures that must be followed if debit cards will continue to be an option for the purchase of OTC medications after January 15, 2011.  In general, these procedures are designed to ensure that these cards can be used to purchase OTC medications only after a prescription has been obtained.

As stated earlier, all Sterling Health Services Administration Employer clients are in compliance and no action is necessary on your part. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at 800.617.4729.

No Comments by Sterling HSA on June 15, 2011
filed in Flexible Benefit Plans, Flexible Spending Accounts, For Employers, Health Reimbursement Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts, Healthcare Reform
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