BUILDING BENEFITS TOWARDS 50% OF REVENUES    Strong consulting focus is timely as health care reform looms Health care reform dangles over employers and their employee benefits agents and brokers like a sword of Damocles. Everyone knows it will drop in 2014, but no one really knows exactly what changes it will bring to the group benefits process and the important relationship between employers and their trusted advisors. Assessing the potential impact on clients and then bridging the gap between 2010 and 2014 is a critical challenge for agents and brokers, says Rick DeBartolo, senior vice president and employee benefits department director at LaMair Mulock Condon Co. in West Des Moines, Iowa. Click here for the complete article …

HEADING SOUTH FOR DENTAL WORK    Group insurers support U.S. residents' treatment in Mexico Employees of U.S.-based companies cross the border into Mexico every day to obtain dental treatment covered under dental insurance plans provided by their stateside employers. One dentist, Dr. Juan Pablo Eng, operates six clinics just inside Mexico with 38 dentists who have treated more than 40,000 U.S. residents in the past 18 years. Virtually all the patients at his clinics are U.S. residents, and about 65% of them are insured under their U.S. dental plans. "It used to be around 80%," Dr. Eng says, "but in the last three years the economy has resulted in a rise in uninsured patients." This bustling, international dental commerce and the employee benefits plans that support it are partly due to the growth in the Hispanic population in the United States. But it's also reflective of a willingness by employers and employees to utilize their benefits programs in cost-effective and creative ways. Dr. Eng's DentiCenter clinics, in operation since 1991, are included in the United States provider networks of both Aetna and Delta Dental. For Delta Dental, the inclusion of Mexican clinics is part of its Hispanic initiative, which includes staffing its call centers with bilingual employees and helping Hispanic customers identify dentists in the network who speak Spanish. Delta Dental first included Dr. Eng's clinic in its network in 1993. Click here for the complete article …

HEALTH CARE REFORM REPERCUSSIONS HIT AGENTS    Big "I" cites accounting concerns; NAIC seeks compensation clarifications The implementation of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (P.L. 111-148) (PPACA) is proving to have an impact on insurance producers' operations, even outside the sale of health insurance. On August 11, 2010, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (Big "I") sent a letter to congressional leaders advocating for the repeal of provisions of the act that will expand tax accounting requirements for businesses. During the extended negotiations that resulted in passage of the act, opponents of health care reform legislation charged that the program was not paid for, so proponents included provisions to expand required use of Form 1099 for vendor transactions. Under section 9006 P.L. 111-148, businesses must issue a Form 1099 to any vendor that exceeds $600 in transactions per annum. The letter from the Big "I" leadership argues that the cost of compliance with the provision far outweighs the benefits to federal revenue coffers: "We understand this provision was intended to close the 'tax gap' of businesses not in compliance with the tax code. However, for insurance agencies and brokerages and their many small business clients, this onerous provision will cost jobs. The amount of resources that will have to be poured into new record keeping, accounting and compliance procedures will be especially burdensome for small businesses such as those in our membership. At a time when we are attempting to recover from a deep recession, this provision will stretch already thin resources to the breaking point." Click here for the complete article … A PEO CAN BE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AGENTS    Agents can choose to write their insurance or even offer PEOs as an alternative "One of the challenges in writing insurance for PEOs is that, in the past, a number of insurance companies got burned because they either didn't understand what they were writing or that the makeup of the businesses served by the PEO had changed and the carrier didn't know or didn't respond appropriately," says Richard G. Turner, executive vice president of Florida-based Patriot Risk Management. Professional employer organizations (PEOs) are businesses that allow clients to outsource management of human resources, benefits, payroll, tax administration and workers compensation. According to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO), an industry trade group, PEOs establish and maintain an employer relationship with employees at the client's worksite and contractually assume certain employer rights, responsibilities and risk. According to NAPEO, businesses can benefit by using PEOs, because they provide: Relief from the burden of employment administration A wide range of personnel management solutions through a team of professionals Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management, which help reduce liabilities Access to comprehensive employee benefits, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market Help improving productivity and profitability Click here for the complete article …

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