Speak with a consultant 866.835.0675
Hudson Planning GroupHudson Planning GroupHudson Planning GroupHudson Planning Group
Take Action
  • Home
  • Culture
    • Our Approach
    • Our Founder
  • Capabilities
    • Employee Benefits
    • Healthcare-Spend Audit
  • Insights
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Culture
    • Our Approach
    • Our Founder
  • Capabilities
    • Employee Benefits
    • Healthcare-Spend Audit
  • Insights
  • Contact
COVID-19
January 13, 2021

COVID-19 Relief Bill Extends Unemployment Benefits, PPP and More

  • Posted By : Hudson Planning Group/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Uncategorized

The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, passed by Congress and signed into law on Dec. 27, includes a number of provisions that affect employers and their workers in terms of paid sick leave and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act provisions.

The legislation also boosts unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans, as well as reopening and expanding the Paycheck Protection Program that was introduced in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Paid sick leave and family medical leave

The new law has not extended the obligation for employers to provide emergency paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave beyond Dec. 31, 2020, instead making it voluntary after that date.

From Jan. 1, employers can continue receiving tax credits if they provide emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and emergency family medical leave (EFML) to employees for COVID-19-related purposes through March 31. Here are the caveats:

  • Tax credits will be available for leave granted to employees who did not already exhaust 80 hours of EPSL and 12 weeks of EFML. For example, if a worker who was entitled to 80 hours of EPSL last year used 50 of those hours, they’d have 30 hours left to use between Jan. 1 and March 31 this year.
  • Employers must protect the jobs of any employee that is granted EPSL and EFML.

Other provisions

The legislation extends some CARES Act unemployment programs:

Unemployment benefits ― The new law extends the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program supplement from December 26, 2020 to March 14. However, instead of receiving $600 a week under the original program, benefits will be $300 per week.

Gig worker unemployment benefits ― The law also extends the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which covers independent contractors and gig workers who would usually not be eligible for unemployment insurance payments.

This program (originally created by the CARES Act) is also extended to March 14, and then a three-week phase-out period begins and will run until April 5. The law increases the number of weeks independent contractors are eligible for these benefits to 50 from the original 39. 

Extra weeks for those whose benefits ran out ― The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides additional weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to individuals who use up all of their state unemployment benefits, will be extended until March 14.

The law also increases the number of benefit weeks to 24, from 13 under the original version of the program. After March 14, this program will be phased out over three weeks until April 5.

More money ― Taxpayers with annual incomes below $75,000 will receive a $600 check, plus another $600 per dependent child. Payments are phased out for people with incomes in excess of $75,000.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) part II ― The law also sets aside $284 billion for forgivable loans to struggling businesses as part of a second PPP. Companies that receive funds will have to use the money on payroll and other specific expenses if they want the loan to be forgiven.

Depending on the loan, employers will have either eight or 24 weeks after receiving the loan to spend it on approved expenses.

But PPP part 2 does have some additional prerequisites that differ from the original. It lowers the employee threshold for businesses to 300 employees or fewer (down from 500). Additionally, the maximum loan is now $2 million, compared to $10 million under the original PPP.

Qualifying expenses are also different in this version, which means any business thinking about applying needs to read all the fine print.


January 5, 2021

Leveraging HSAs to Help Your Staff Manage Health Care Costs

  • Posted By : Hudson Planning Group/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : Uncategorized

With the COVID-19 pandemic weighing on employers and employees alike, businesses can help their staff by leveraging health savings accounts to pay for out-of-pocket expenses.

Congress in 2020 untethered HSAs and flexible spending accounts by changing the rules that prohibited account holders from using the funds in their accounts for over-the-counter medicines and other non-prescription health products and services. That change, which is permanent, was done through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

HSAs are a great option to help employees save for health care expenses since all unused funds can be rolled over from year to year (there is no use it or lose it penalty). HSAs also provide the potential to build a health care savings nest egg, the funds in which can be invested so they can grow.

There is also the much-touted fact that HSAs offer a triple tax benefit:

  • Contributions are not subject to federal income taxes;
  • Earnings from interest and investments are tax-free; and
  • Distributions to pay for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.

Additionally, people over 65 can withdraw funds for any purpose without incurring a penalty, although if not used for qualified medical expenses, they may be subject to income taxes.

Here are some tips to help your employees access HSAs: 

Design a strong plan

HSAs must be tied to a high-deductible health plan and there are certain steps you can take to make them more attractive to your workers.

The HDHP plan should have a lower premium than a traditional plan in order to give your employees affordability and leftover funds to funnel into the HSA.

You can instill confidence by:

  • Providing your employer contribution on the first day of the plan year to alleviate concerns about covering the deductible.
  • Utilizing a Section 125 cafeteria plan to allow employees to make pre-tax salary reduction contributions.
  • Putting in place a matching contribution structure to employees making salary reductions.

Educate and support your staff

Plan your HSA messaging early and way ahead of open enrollment to maximize interest. This should be a year-round educational effort that engages your staff and helps instill confidence in HSAs.

Remember, the messaging should be different depending on the age of your workers. You may need to have different approaches to educating baby boomers compared to Gen Z staff.

Help them make good decisions

You should be able to show your employees at a glance which health plans will save them money. There are tools available to do cost-benefit analyses of how much an employee spends on a health plan and if it was the most cost-effective choice.

The average employee leaves $1,500 on the able in money they could have saved on premiums had they chosen an HDHP, particularly if they don’t use health care services often.

One way to illustrate how much money they may be wasting is to provide claims-based report cards, which show whether or not they made a good choice the previous year ahead of open enrollment.

The takeaway

The goal here is to educate your workers about the power of HSAs and how having one can help them amass a substantial war chest of funds for any future expensive health care needs. If entered into early, an employee can set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars for unanticipated health care expenses.

If you provide support and education, your staff will be more engaged, resulting in them making better health care choices.


Categories
  • Uncategorized
Recent Posts
  • COVID-19 Relief Bill Extends Unemployment Benefits, PPP and More
  • Leveraging HSAs to Help Your Staff Manage Health Care Costs
  • New Law Bans Surprise Billing
  • How COVID-19 Will Change Employee Benefits
  • New Rules Require Health Plans to Cover COVID-19 Vaccines, More
Archives
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
Trending
ACA ACA Employer Mandate Affordable care act ALE Cadillac tax CARES Act Coronavirus Coronavirus testing COVID-19 drug cost Drug Prices employee benefits group health plan group health plans HDHP health care Healthcare health care cost healthcare cost Healthcare costs health coverage health insurance Health Plan health plans health premiums Health Reimbursement Arrangement high deductible health plan HRA HSA Hudson Planning Group Insurance Claims Medicaid medical bill medicare multi-generational workplace open enrollment pandemic PBM Pharmacy Benefit Manager Prescription Cost Prescription Drugs self funding Total Control Health Plans Unemployment benefits workplace safety
Privacy Policy|    Notice of Privacy Practice
©2020 Acrutiv | Hudson Planning Group. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Agency Annex