HR360 is your complete HR resource for all things related to healthcare, workplace issues, recruitment and retention, and compliance. Highlights from this month include:
- Electronic Filing Deadline for Forms 1094 and 1095 is April 2: Employers subject to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) information reporting requirements are reminded that the deadline to electronically file ACA information returns with the IRS is April 2.
- Federal Agencies Propose to Allow Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance for Longer Periods: Federal agencies recently proposed to amend the definition of short-term, limited-duration insurance so that it may offer a maximum coverage period of less than 12 months after the original effective date of the contract, rather than the current maximum period of less than 3 months.
- Reminder: Group Health Plans Required to Offer Special Enrollment: Under HIPAA, certain events that happen to employees or their dependents trigger a right to "special enroll" in a group health plan. Special enrollment allows individuals who previously declined health coverage to enroll in coverage outside of a plan's open enrollment period. Group health plans must make all employees eligible to enroll in the employer's group health plan aware of their special enrollment rights at or before the time an employee is initially offered the opportunity to enroll in the plan by distributing a Notice of Special Enrollment Rights. A downloadable model notice from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is available here(scroll to page 2 of the PDF—marked as page 138).
- IRS Decreases 2018 HSA Contribution Limit for Certain Individuals: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that the 2018 annual limitation on health savings account (HSA) contributions by individuals with family coverage under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) is now $6,850. This limit was previously announced as $6,900, but has been revised downward due to an inflation adjustment provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The 2018 annual limitation on HSA contributions by an individual with self-only coverage under a HDHP remains unchanged at $3,450.
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