Be informed on the HCM regulatory changes that you need to be prepared for in 2025. What best practices should you consider implementing for your workplace? Join Bobbi Kloss as she explains.
Approved for credit from HRCI and SHRM
BAN Blog
2025 Overview of ACA Reporting Requirements
In this webinar, Stacy H. Barrow, Esq. provides an overview of 2024 ACA reporting requirements applicable to large employers and self-insured plans. Stacy will review the new electronic reporting requirements and the various reporting forms (1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C), indicator codes, and affordability safe harbors. Other topics covered in this webinar include reporting for waiting periods / initial measurement periods, COBRA participants and post-employment coverage, and correcting reporting mistakes. Stacy will also address common questions and provide best practices.
Key takeaways include:
- How to complete the reporting forms for calendar year 2024 reporting;
- Which indicator codes and safe harbors apply to various employment situations (e.g., waiting periods, cost changes, employment status changes);
- How to address other situations, such as opt-out payments, union employees, conditional offers of coverage to spouses, and ICHRAs.
Approved for credit from HRCI and SHRM
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Ongoing National Trends Impact Benefit Strategy
published by NABIP
As we enter the second half of the year, there’s a sense of déjà vu. Policies that address voters’ financial position, feeling of security, basic living expenses, and education will be central. Still, dramatic change is doubtful, given the fractured state of politics. We’ll need to wait at least a year or two for real action, and what happens will depend on the political configuration of the government. More immediately, the following issues are likely to impact NABIP members.
While the economy will continue to expand, monetary and fiscal policies will work against each other. Businesses hope that interest rates will move downward to lower the cost of borrowing capital. At the same time, they will find it challenging to retain labor as other companies pay more to recruit workers. This upward pressure on wages will put pressure on inflation, and the cycle will continue.
Employers will balance cost savings against too many adjustments that could lead to an exodus of talent. Two-thirds of American workers believe their pay is inadequate to cover the rising cost of inflation, according to Bank of America. Many are making spending decisions based on short-term needs rather than long-term consequences, such as forgoing prescription drugs.
Shifting Workforce Dynamics
Expect inclusion, diversity, and social and environmental causes to progress at different speeds based on the business’s leadership and region of the country. Employees increasingly want a voice and a seat at the decision-making table.
Company reactions to these conversations will be scrutinized against employee retention, productivity, and what other local businesses are doing.
Employers will move cautiously and be more data-dependent in decision-making to stay with other employers in their space. Correspondingly, we see a lot of discussion about the impact of AI and its role in workplace strategy.
Perry Braun is president & CEO of the Benefit Advisors Network (BAN), an exclusive network of progressive and independent employee benefit brokerage and consulting companies in the U.S. and Canada.
Benefit Advisors Network Selects Canadian Employee Benefits Firm AGA Benefit Solutions as Newest Member
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jessica Tiller
jtiller@pughandtillerpr.com or 443-621-7690
Cleveland, OH and Montreal, Canada (7-17-24) – Benefit Advisors Network (BAN), an international network of progressive and visionary employee benefit brokers and consulting firms from across the United States and Canada, is pleased to announce that Montreal based AGA Benefit Solutions has been accepted for membership into the organization.
With more than 300 employees, AGA Benefit Solutions serves major markets across Canada, including Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The independently owned firm develops and administers customized group insurance and retirement plans to more than 2,700 clients that include small, medium and large businesses, covering a broad range of industries.
AGA Benefit Solutions has a team of more than 20 actuaries able to carry out in-depth analysis, a network of external brokers across Canada, and is one of Canada’s leading third-party administrators and third-party claims payer (TPA/TPP).
“We’re thrilled to be selected as a BAN member. We are highly dedicated to innovation and customized group insurance and retirement programs and see membership in BAN as one way to help us deliver high quality, valuable services,” says Martin Papillon, President and CEO, AGA Benefits Solutions.
Continues Papillon, “We believe the business planning tools and client resources BAN offers will enhance our firm’s continued growth and enhance the value proposition for our clients. We appreciate the high-quality resources that BAN membership adds to the arsenal of customer solutions that we already provide to our clients, especially for their cross border needs in the United States.”
To become a BAN member, AGA Benefit Solutions had to pass a stringent screening process that included interacting with BAN’s members and its Board, and scrutiny of the firm’s business ethics, industry knowledge, and commitment to providing the highest quality services.
“We are proud to welcome Martin and his team into BAN,” says Perry Braun, President & CEO of the Benefit Advisors Network. “AGA Benefit Solutions prides themselves on being strategic and innovative problem-solvers, partnering with clients to develop appropriate, affordable, and flexible solutions for their employee benefit programs – this is exactly the type of member that makes BAN the international organization it is today.”
BAN intentionally limits membership to the “best of the best” in their respective markets. The organizational philosophy of collaboration while providing world-class resources, such as preferred pricing arrangements and direct access to underwriters, has helped its members continue to grow.
About AGA Benefit Solutions
AGA Benefit Solutions is a Canadian leader in the development and administration of customized group insurance plans and group retirement plans. Founded more than 45 years ago, AGA Benefit Solutions serves today more than 2,700 clients, supports over 200,000 members with the management and adjudication of their claims, and boasts over a $1 billion in premiums and group retirement assets under management. To find out more, visit www.aga.ca
About Benefit Advisors Network
Founded in 2002, BAN is an exclusive, premier, international network of independent, employee benefit brokerage and consulting companies. BAN delivers industry leading tools, technology, and expertise to member firms so that they can deliver optimum results to their employee benefit customers. BAN intentionally limits membership because of the highly collaborative interactions. For more information, visit: www.benefitadvisorsnetwork.com or follow them on LinkedIn.
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Benefit Advisors Network Admits Tooher-Ferraris Insurance Group as Newest Member
WILTON, CT and CLEVELAND, OH (7/X/24) – Wilton, Connecticut-based Tooher-Ferraris Insurance Group is the newest member of the Benefit Advisors Network (BAN), an international network of progressive and visionary employee benefit brokers and consulting firms from across the United States and Canada.
“In order to gain membership into BAN, Tooher-Ferraris Insurance Group had to successfully pass a stringent screening process,” says Perry Braun, President & CEO of the Benefit Advisors Network. “When determining whether to admit an organization into BAN, we closely examine ethics in business, knowledge of the industry, as well as commitment to providing high quality service – and Tooher-Ferraris met our standards in all of these areas.”
Family owned and operated since 1932, the Tooher-Ferraris team, comprised of of 37 career insurance professionals, is licensed in 38 states and prides itself on designing insurance and risk management programs to meet the unique needs of every individual, family, and business it insures. The firm is predominately a Property & Casualty agency, having recently opened the Group Benefits division in 2020.
“Access to resources needed to compete are critical to our customers growth objectives so that we can continue to offer relevant value-added services,” says Eric Ferraris, CIC, CRM, CLTC, Principal at Tooher-Ferraris Insurance Group. “In the ever-changing landscape of the market, and solutions around compliance, human capital management and insurance, we are thrilled to be a part of the Benefit Advisors Network.”
“We saw BAN as a competitive advantage to continue to develop our team, connect with industry thought leaders, and provide unique solutions to our customers,” continues Ferraris.
The collaboration and sharing of intellectual knowledge between fellow members is unlike any other organization in our industry, regardless of size. Unlike many other industry organizations, BAN members collaborate on business rather than compete, therefore it limits membership by market or geographic area. BAN is more interested in being the best than being the largest. That unique structure and philosophy allow members to share and support one another with best practices, strategies and expertise because they are unencumbered by concern with the presence of competitors.
BAN firms are able to offer their clients the kind of resources normally found only in a major national firm. But, rather than answering to corporate headquarters or shareholder interests, BAN members answer to their clients, delivering the care and consideration of an interested local partner that understands what local employers want and need.
About Benefit Advisors Network
Founded in 2002, BAN is an exclusive, premier, international network of independent, employee benefit brokerage and consulting companies. BAN delivers industry leading tools, technology, and expertise to member firms so that they can deliver optimum results to their employee benefit customers. BAN intentionally limits membership because of the highly collaborative interactions. For more information, visit: www.benefitadvisorsnetwork.com or follow them on LinkedIn.