The Macro to the Micro
Workers’ compensation management in the PEO context is a curious thing. PEOs have three fundamental policy structures available to them: the master policy, the multiple coordinated policy (MCP), and client-based policies.
While today’s brew of master policy, MCP, and hybrid states is not optimal, it has evolved into a workable accommodation of the interests of PEOs, carriers, insurance commissioners, and ratemaking bodies. Carriers that will work with PEOs vary widely, and the market is limited because of the unique administrative burdens related to PEO coverage. This brew works now mainly because it still allows some flexibility for PEOs.
Generally, PEO sales reps are the first line of defense in PEO risk management. First, assume PEO sales representatives clearly understand whom they represent. PEO sales reps are responsible for protecting the interests of the PEO, but for many sales reps, it can be confusing—especially those with PEOs that rely heavily on broker or independent sales relationships. Second, assume that the PEO has provided sufficient training for the sales reps to understand what level of risk is acceptable to the organization.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) advances unprecedented change in the insurance market. In fact, change of this magnitude, focused at a single point in time, has not been experienced since the advent of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. There are four core shifts that will alter the health insurance market: consumer protections (e.g., ban on lifetime/annual limits, ban on rescissions, increased coverage for dependents), financial provisions (e.g., individual mandate, employer penalty, medical loss ratio), insurance regulation (e.g., community rating for small/individual group, increased federal oversight), and insurance structures (e.g., health insurance exchanges, premium subsidies, Medicaid expansion). Of these, the structural permutations will have a profound impact on how employers offer benefits.
It’s true that outsourcing relationships are driven by top management, but it’s also key for upper management to be involved in managing the relationship. It may seem time-consuming or difficult to manage multiple vendor relationships, but these partners are part of our workforce and really an extension of our team. Outsourcing partners need us to provide them with information, clear goals, and guidance. It is important to have regular checkups and detailed quarterly reviews of ongoing service and outstanding issues.
Last fall, voters more or less returned incumbents to office at both the state and federal levels. Split party control of Congress most assuredly means that there will be no legislative changes to federal healthcare reform. The reelection of President Obama means that federal agencies will continue to march forward in implementing the new healthcare laws.
Small business owner confidence continues to drag, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index. The Index gained nine-tenths of a point, rising to 88.9, failing to regain the losses caused by January’s “fiscal cliff” scare.
Charlie Amato and Gary Dudley were childhood friends in a small East Texas town. Although they lost touch because of family moves, they met again when they pledged the same fraternity at Sam Houston State University in the mid-1960s.
After several quarters of gains, the PEO Employment Index in Q4 saw its first modest decline in more than a year. The decline is understandable given the level of uncertainty associated with the fiscal cliff as well as the outcome of the election.
As I write this, storm clouds are swirling in New York. As you may know, a provision in the governor’s budget implementing the exchanges threatens the healthcare services of our industry at their core. The provision would require all employers with 50 or fewer employees—whether or not they are in a PEO arrangement—to be treated (and rated) as a small group.
Q. I understand that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires health coverage information to be reported on an individual’s 2012 W-2. Are PEOs required to do that?
Last year, NAPEO’s Unemployment Insurance Task Force met to review its guiding principle: “Recognize PEOs for purposes of unemployment compensation insurance and report taxable wages using the employer account and the experience rating of the PEO for its covered employees.”
When it comes to immigration, people are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. And the facts are crystal clear: Our current system is broken. It’s not serving the interests of our economy, our businesses, or our society.
For anyone working in human resources, the words, “Got a minute?” can open the proverbial can of worms. This becomes more evident when the employee requesting “a minute” wants to discuss a complaint of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.
First, it was the fiscal cliff. Then it was sequestration—a word that mercifully no one had heard much prior to late February. Yet another fiscal crisis occurred only two months after the last fiscal crisis.