New Stimulus Act Effects on COBRA
February 17, 2009 - Micheal Best and Friedrich LLP
BSG has been following developments with the federal stimulus package, which was recently signed into law by President Obama. We are committed to working with our clients and partners to achieve full compliance at the earliest possible date. The benefits and legal communities are buzzing with activity attempting to interpret and comply with the new regulations. To get a taste of what is in store, here is a summary provided by our strategic partner, Michael Best and Friedrich LLP.
Reminder: Part D Annual Disclosure to CMS
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires employers to annually report via its Web site the credibility/non-credibility status of sponsored plans. This filing has taken place every year since Part D was first introduced and the process is the same this year.
The following is a link to the CMS Web site with more details:
Creditable Coverage Disclosure to CMS
The required online disclosure form is here:
Disclosure to CMS form
The online form requires you to provide some specific information on your plan(s) within 60 days after the beginning of the plan date. Therefore, a plan sponsor with a January 1 effective date needs to make this filing before March 1, 2009. This is a relatively easy process and will likely take only a short amount of time to complete (10-15 minutes).
Medicare Part D will continue to have notice and reporting requirements that will need to be addressed each year. BSG will continue to monitor all of the Part D developments and will continue to update our clients as we learn anything new. If you are a BSG client and need any assistance, please feel free to call Sue Thomas, Director of Analytical Services - Contracts & Compliance at 262-424-6382.
