| Solutions: | ||
| “an action or process of solving a problem” | ||
| - Merriam-Webster |
Employee Benefit Solutions
There’s very little doubt that a happy employee makes a good employee. What’s also true is that employees that enjoy their work are more productive. So, how do we retain happy, good, productive employees? Compensation, Benefits, Retirement plans, answer: all of the above. Furthermore, to recruit and retain the very best employees in today’s marketplace, you must offer a competitive employee benefits package that offers affordable health, dental, and vision insurance & a 401(k) plan at minimum. HCS allows you to compete with Fortune 500 companies for the best employees while meeting your financial and business objectives.
You went into business because you were passionate about a product or service you offered. We’ll bet you didn’t get into business to administer or manage employees or their benefits. So, leave that to us!
Click a link to see our Benefit Management services
Administration
At Human Capital Strategies we offer a wide array of products and solutions that best suit your companies’ needs. Since we offer programs from multiple providers, be assured that cost, compliance, and compatibility issues have already been addressed.
Our administration and management of your benefits helps you with key resource and staffing solutions that generate results and keep your employees happy & productive. Because HCS administers the entire employee benefits program, our clients and their employees can simply relax and reap the rewards while we take care of the details.
Key elements include:
- New Employee Eligibility & Enrollments
- Invoice Audit & Payment
- Payroll Deduction Reconciliation
- Section 125
- 5500 Filings
- Annual Review, Education & Enrollment
COBRA & ARRA
COBRA now includes provisions to help eligible jobless workers pay for health insurance under COBRA. Required by employers with 20 or more employees, COBRA allows newly unemployed workers to keep health insurance provided by their former employers. COBRA compliance is often complex and mundane; Human Capital Strategies offers ease of management of these time consuming and legally required responsibilities:
- Initial COBRA notification
- Tracking & notification of qualifying events
- Preparing payment coupons
- Collecting payments
- Remitting payments
- We do it all for you
Traditionally, these premiums are prohibitively expensive; however, President Obama recently signed into law a $790 billion economic stimulus package; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). With the government subsidizing 65% of the premiums under COBRA for nine months, expectations are that many more terminated employees will begin to take advantage of this program.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act increases the complexity of COBRA and payroll administration services, complicated further by the fact that certain details have not been announced by the Department of Labor or The Internal Revenue Service. As with all other aspects of employee relations, Human Capital Strategies will continue to monitor the new regulations, case law and the impact on you. As further instructions on the new act are revealed during this time of uncertainty, you can rest assured knowing that we will continue to communicate their impact on your company.
The new Law enacts provisions that will make COBRA coverage more accessible to former employees of your company. The COBRA-Specific Components of the Act include:
- Premium Reduction/Subsidy: For workers who were involuntarily terminated for reasons other than gross misconduct between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009, the government will subsidize 65% of their premiums under COBRA for nine months. Health FSAs are specifically excluded.
- High Income Exclusion: If the modified adjusted gross income (AGI) of a participant exceeds $125,000 a year, or a family’s AGI exceeds $250,000, their income tax will be raised by the premium reduction amount – effectively removing the subsidy. The amount of credit that is recaptures on the tax return is according to a sliding scale.
- Special Election Period: For workers who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008 and the day the stimulus Law goes into effect, and who did not sign up for COBRA, will get an additional 60 days to do so. They will receive coverage and the subsidy dating back to February 17, 2009, not their original loss of coverage date. The period of time between the qualifying event date and February 17, 2009 does not count toward the HIPAA 63-day gap in coverage rules for determining creditable coverage.
- New Notification Period: Within 60 days of enactment, Human Capitial Strategies will provide an additional notification to any Assistance Eligible Employee who became entitled to elect COBRA before enactment of this Law.
- Tax Credit for Employers: To offset the employer’s expense, the employer may take a full tax credit for its expenditures out of its payroll taxes including both income tax withholding and FICA.
- Plan Enrollment Option: Qualified Beneficiaries (QBs) under the stimulus will have the option to change plans to another product offered by the Employer with the following requirements:
- Employer agrees to allow Qualified Beneficiaries to enroll in different coverage
- The selected plan does not exceed the premium for coverage in which the individual was enrolled at the time the qualifying event occurred
- Plan cannot be Dental, Vision, Counseling, Referral or FSA
- Coverage is also offered to active employees
Manage Health Insurance Costs
We take a proactive and consultative approach to helping you manage your insurance renewals. Many people believe that you have no control over renewal rates for benefit plans. With our relationships and expertise in the industry, we aggressively negotiate renewal and benefit packages each year. The following services can have a tremendous impact on your rates:
- Comprehensive Renewal Analysis and Negotiation
- Report Analysis and Interpretation
- Network Analysis
- Administrative Evaluation
- Member/Provider Selection and Evaluation
Voluntary Benefit Programs
We offer a full scale program that includes dental, vision, short & long term disability, life insurance, 401(k)s & additional retirement plans.
The Next Best Thing to No Employees!
