BeneTrac Adds to Suite of Health Care Reform Solutions

BeneTrac, a Paychex company and provider of web-based enrollment and employee benefits administration software, announced the development of a new addition to its suite of health care reform solutions, the BeneTrac Full-Time Employee Analysis Service, to help employers prepare for the employer shared responsibility (ESR) provision of the Affordable Care Act.

According to a release, under ESR, applicable large employers - those with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent [FTE] employees) - will be required to provide qualified and affordable health insurance or face potential penalties from the IRS. To determine which employees must be offered coverage in 2015 to avoid potential assessments, employers may need to establish a look-back measurement period. The BeneTrac Full-Time Employee Analysis Service will simplify this process by providing modeling capabilities to help employers determine the impact of different measurement periods for tracking employee hours worked. In addition, HR administrators will be able to analyze employee data to determine which variable hour employees are full-time - and should be offered adequate and affordable coverage - or may subject employers to a potential penalty. Each month, the look-back report will help employers identify and manage monthly eligibility changes.

"Although the employer mandate doesn't take effect until January 1, 2015, there are a number of things employers need to act on now to ensure they are in compliance with the new requirements when 2015 hits," said Summer Hamilton, vice president of sales for BeneTrac. "With the release of our new service, we're easing the administrative burden that falls on employers and their HR administrators in 2014 to determine which employees are considered full-time and therefore may put them at risk of penalties."

The company reported that in addition to the new BeneTrac Full- Time Employee Analysis Service, BeneTrac's technology helps HR administrators, brokers, and others meet additional health care reform requirements, including:

-Form W-2 Reporting - Employers who issued 250 or more Forms W-2 in the prior calendar year must report the value of certain employer- sponsored health benefits on employees' Forms W-2 issued in the current year. BeneTrac's technology provides calculation of the true monthly premiums, as they were paid throughout the year, thereby avoiding year-end surprises and costly reconciliations.

-90-Day Waiting Period for Coverage - Beginning on January 1, the waiting period for an employee to be covered under a group health plan cannot exceed 90 calendar days. The BeneTrac system offers automatic management of waiting periods for newly eligible employees.

-Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Rebates - Under the Affordable Care Act, health plan insurers whose medical loss ratio (the ratio of medical claims expense to premiums charged) is too low must issue premium rebates to policyholders. In many cases, employers who receive such rebates will need to allocate a portion to plan participants based on how much they contributed to plan premiums. To aid in this process, BeneTrac provides a spreadsheet template auto- populated with BeneTrac system data to provide employers with accurate calculations for any rebates, which can then be properly processed according to the premium responsibility arrangement.

More information:

www.benetrac.com.

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