Have the April showers started to bring everyone some beautiful May flowers? :) It surely is nice to see the colors outside!

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1 May 2015 Featured Article Links Hello Brokers: Have the April showers started to bring everyone some beautiful May flowers? :) It surely is nice to see the colors outside! Here we are again with some great newsletter articles from the team. Please enjoy this May newsletter! Summary Plan Descriptions and DOL Audits The problem The Department of Labor has increased the number of ERISA compliance audits it conducts each year. ERISA (the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act) requires employers who are plan administrators of their group health plans to maintain and distribute Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) to plan participants. Additionally, Group health plans Summary Plan Descriptions and DOL Audits Are your groups looking to control healthcare costs? Optima's Consumer Driven Healthcare Plans (CDHPs) Partially Self- Funded Plans Premium-only plan Important Information on COBRA For your awareness... Emergency Travel Assistance Starmark: ID Cards. On the Go! Companion Life Earns Industry's 'A+" Financial Rating Insurer and Employer Reporting Requirements Important information regarding Optima

2 must be administered in accordance with a written Plan Document which must be made available to plan participants...read MORE Please click here for Employer FAQs - Wrap Documents Are your groups looking to control healthcare costs? Starmark has a solution! Offer your groups a Starmark consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) with stop loss insurance paired with a health savings account (HSA) or a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) to help employers control their spending while providing an appealing benefits package. CDHPs are gaining in popularity, with employers of all sizes adding this type of health plan in Last year, CDHP enrollment increased from 18 percent to 23 percent for all covered employees, making it the largest one-year increase in high-deductible CDHP enrollment.1 Self-funded CDHPs answer employers' needs for affordable healthcare and the ability to continue providing benefits while also helping employees in two important ways.. CDHPs support employees in making informed healthcare choices, and the transparency of healthcare spending from a self-funded plan can help deliver cost control. Other advantages employers can gain by offering a CDHP include: cost and tax savings from empowering employees to make informed healthcare choices lower premiums than traditional PPO plans as a result of rates being based on their own risk profile flexibility to design a plan with a higher deductible and ability to help offset deductible costs when paired with HSA or HRA transparency of healthcare spend with utilization reports Other advantages employees can gain with a CDHP include: Health Individual Payments ID Cards. On the Go! Have any of your employees ever misplaced their ID card? With Starmark's mobilefriendly website, members can access their ID card on the go, right from their smartphone! For more information, CLICK HERE! Companio n Life Earns

3 tax and cost savings from the use of pretax dollars with an HSA or HRA savings through educated choices, such as selecting in-network doctors or requesting generics potential for savings with lower premiums than traditional PPO plans overall satisfaction with a full benefit plan For more information on consumer-driven health plan paired with an HSA or HRA, read more in this article, which was published in HUI and written by Jim Howe, Starmark's Executive Director. Starmark consumer-driven health plan HIU article. Contact Starmark or Glandon Insurance to find out about Starmark health plan designs and how we can deliver benefit packages that help control costs while attracting and retaining employees. 1 Mercer 2014 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans Brokers, Optima's Consumer Driven Healthcare Plans (CDHPs) Do your groups need a "Solution" to affordable group health plans for their employees during these challenging ACA times? Don't forget about Optima's Consumer Driven Healthcare Plans (CDHP) - Optima Equity - IRS qualified, high deductible health plans with most having an embedded deductible that can be partnered with a Health Savings Account (HSA). Optima Health and HealthEquity together deliver a fully integrated approach to consumer-driven health care that combines industry-leading Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and reimbursement accounts with your health plan design. It's a solution with easy enrollment, less paperwork, and hassle-free claims. Industry's 'A+' Financial Rating for 13th Year To read the article, CLICK HERE! Insurer and Employer Reporting Requirem ents Effective 2015, the Affordable Care Act requires every provider of minimum essential coverage (MEC) to report certain information about covered individuals

4 With today's low competitive job market, attractive benefit packages are essential to securing key talent. An HSA-qualified health plan, supplemented with employer HSA contributions, maximize benefit offerings while maintaining cost control. HSA-qualified plans are an effective way to ensure compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and avoid expensive "Cadillac-tax" penalties...read MORE! For available Broker resources on Optima's website, please click the link below: uityresources.aspx **For more HSA information, please see the attached updated "The Complete HSA Guidebook".** Partially Self-Funded Plans Partially self-funded health plans are safe for your group. Historically, self-funded health plans were reserved large groups with 100+ employees. Due to ACA, there have been several innovative partially self-funded health products designed that are available to small groups. Most will ask, "How is self-funding safe for a small group?" or "How can a small business manage the risk and volatility involved with self-funding?". Here are a few points that illustrate how partially self-funded, or level funded, health plans are safe for your small group: to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and also provide a statement to those individuals. Click HERE for a listing of the forms required by market segment, when the forms need to be filed, and other important information. If you have any questions, please contact us! Important information regarding

5 1. Premiums are level - premiums do not fluctuate from month to month. Regardless of claims activity, premiums will be the same each month. 2. Claims risk is factored into monthly payments - the group's claims liability is already factored into the premium. Groups are pre-paying their claims liability by setting aside funds into a claims account each month to cover claims they are responsible for. 3. Stop loss coverage pays claims beyond the attachment points-once claims reach are certain level on the group, or individual, level, then the stop loss insurance policy will cover remaining claims 4. Administration is simple and easy - claims fund reconciliation and stop loss claims processing are all done by the carrier; the group is not responsible for any functions other than paying the premium. 5. Long run out periods-most carriers offer very generous run out periods so claims will continue to be processed months after the plan year Optima Health Individual Payments Please remember Optima cannot accept business payments of any form for the individual product (check, credit card, or EFT). Payme nts must come from a person al source. Many groups will have the opportunity to save significant amounts of money by switching to a partially self-funded plan. If the group has low utilization for the year, then they may even be eligible for a refund. Please explore these partially self-funded options for your group. Contact Will Drudge for more information, or will@glandoninsurance.com. Premium-only plan

6 With Aflac's cafeteria plan, your customers can take advantage of pre-tax savings. Aflac's premium-only plan enables employers to offer qualified group health, group term life and Aflac voluntary insurance policies on a pretax basis for employer and employee cost savings. The premium-only plan is available to all Aflac customers at no additional cost. This plan enables employers and employees to pay insurance plan premiums before taxes which means both take advantage of tax savings. Pre-tax supporting documentation: Aflac supplies employers with documents that support pre-tax deductions for Aflac policies as well as other insurance policy premiums. These documents are available at no cost and, once signed, become the property of the employer. Aflac will also make employee salary redirection agreement forms available for use in conjunction with Aflac's relationship with Wage Works. Aflac Group does not have salary redirection forms. For more information, please contact Vicky! Important Information on COBRA... We occasionally still get questioned about how or if the Affordable Care Act effects COBRA, actually the ACA does not incorporate COBRA at all. COBRA predates ACA and is still in effect. While it's possible that it may change in coming years, no changes are being made due to health care reform at this point. The Department of Labor website tells us COBRA was not changed or been eliminated in any way. Groups subject to COBRA today will continue to be subject to COBRA at this time. There are several reasons for which COBRA will still be an important option for individuals:

7 Dental and vision coverage is included under COBRA laws, but may not be available through the exchange. Individuals may have already met their deductible or out of pocket limits with their employer group, possibly making it more costly for them to purchase through the exchange. The doctor or network they are using may not be available in the exchange. Working with the exchange may be confusing for many. Please make sure that your groups continue to be aware of the importance of COBRA, it's not going anywhere! Glandon Resources is available to provide COBRA Administration for your groups. For inquiries or pricing, please contact Genna in our beach office at (757) or For your awareness... If you haven't heard about the new HR tech company Zenefits by now, I'm sure you will soon. The company was launched in 2013 as a cloud based HR solution for small and large businesses. They can manage Health, Dental, Life & DI, Payroll Services, HSA/FSA administration, and COBRA administration with the hopes to launch other needed HR resources in the very near future. With Zenefits being the one stop shop for all the groups HR needs and the price tag is FREE, many small employers as well as those in the 50+ employee market are making the decision to move their benefits to Zenefits. One major aspect that Zenefits is lacking is the face to face personal relationship that we as brokers have with our clients. We may not have savvy cloud based technology, but we are here for our clients. Our clients

8 know that when they call our office we are there answering the phones ready to help with all the issues that come up daily! Zenefits does most of its communication via and does not have an open call center. Do your best to make yourself familiar with Zenefits by reading the articles below, but don't be afraid of them. Focus on your relationships with your clients and giving them the best customer service possible each and every day million/#.5po7dn:vojr enefits-an-online-broker-rattles-health-insuranceindustry Emergency Travel Assistance Optima Health offers a value-added service called Emergency Travel Assistance. These fully paid, global-emergency medical and travel services are provided by Assist America and available to most Optima Health members*. With the Emergency Travel Assistance Program, Optima Health members will be protected by a powerful array of resources whenever they travel 100 miles or more from home. The first 90 consecutive days of any trip are included in this

9 coverage. If your travel plans exceed 90 days, you can call Assist America prior to the beginning of your trip and purchase Expatriate Coverage, which will prolong your coverage for longer trips. Emergency Travel Assistance services include: Medical consultation, evaluation, & referral; Prescription assistance; Hospital admission assistance; Emergency medical evacuation; Compassionate visit; Care for minor children; Emergency trauma counseling; Legal and interpreter referrals; Return of mortal remains; And more. Assist America pays for all of the assistance services it provides with no caps, limits, or charge-backs to anyone and with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions, adventure sports, geographic risk, or alcohol-related incidents. Optima Health lives its mission to "Improve Health Every Day" and we are pleased to offer this program to our members. All eligible subscribers receive their Emergency Travel Assistance ID card with their regular medical ID card when they enroll in the health plan. Please click HERE to see the attached flyer for more details! * The Emergency Travel Assistance Program is included in the Optima Health fully-insured commercial product. Employer groups purchasing insurance on a self-funded basis have the option of purchasing these services or not.

10 Thank you for your continued business! We hope you all had a safe and happy Memorial Day holiday! Sincerely, Glandon Insurance Agency