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Agency News

We've moved!

The Patton Group has moved our office location. We out grew our old location in just a couple short years and needed more space. The Patton Group continues to grow and provide outstanding service and administration for your employer sponsored health plans. Take a look at the attached file and make sure you contact information is up to date. As always, thank you for your trust in The Patton Group.

Legislative News

Democrats Weigh Replacing Public Option with Non-profit, Expanding Medicare
Insurance Journal

U.S. Senate Democratic healthcare negotiators said they agreed Tuesday to replace a government-run insurance option with a scaled-back non-profit plan and would seek cost estimates on the deal.

Health Care Reform Legislation: The Coming Compliance Tsunami
Ceridian

When the U.S. House of Representatives passed health care reform legislation on November 7 by the slim margin of 220-215, headlines proclaimed blockbuster issues -- 30 million more insured, higher taxes, employer mandates, Medicare cuts, insurance company regulations, individual mandates, Medicaid expansion and a public option in the health insurance exchange.

Minimal Employer Penalties For Not Offering Health Coverage In Senate Health Reform Bill
CCH

Employer-sponsored plans would be affected by H.R. 3590 in a variety of ways including these:

Seven Things You Didn't Know Were In The Senate Health Bill
Kaiser Health News

Pay attention: The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" -- better known as the Senate health care overhaul bill – is chock full of interesting but little publicized provisions affecting consumers.

News

Small Business Endangered by Health Insurance Reform
Citizen's Council on Healthcare

This policy brief summarizes some of the major requirements that health care reform legislation under consideration at the federal level will impose on smaller businesses, including the expected impact on entrepreneurship and business expansion.

COBRA Subsidy May Be Extended Before Year End
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Lawmakers have indicated that they are interested in extending the COBRA subsidy program that was enacted in February of this year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

IRS Releases Regulations on Employer Comparable Contributions to HSAs
Watson Wyatt Worldwide

The IRS has released final regulations on employer comparable contributions to health savings accounts (HSAs).

Why Employee Well-Being Matters to Your Bottom Line
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Employees experiencing reduced productivity while at work, or presenteeism, attributable to health issues are much more likely to report reductions in productivity attributable to other factors, such as job overload, financial stress and personal problems.

Employer Contributions Shifting in Consumer-Driven Health Plans
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Among Americans who have consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) linked to accounts that are fully or partially funded by their employers, workers with individual coverage have seen their annual employer contributions decrease, while those with family coverage have seen their annual employer contributions increase, according to a new survey by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

Benefits

New Form 5500 Rules Apply To Health Plans
National Underwriter Company
Allison Bell

The Employee Benefits Security Administration has published a new batch of advice aimed at insurers, benefit plan administrators and other organizations that are trying to comply with new reporting requirements.