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History of Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs)
At the beginning of the 20th century, when most employees worked at large manufacturing plants, larger employers provided self-funded, self-managed, onsite medical care in the form of a company doctor....
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4 Real-Life HRA Case Studies
If you've ever tried to learn a new concept, you probably appreciate that "knowing" is different from "understanding". When you have an opportunity to apply your knowledge, the lesson typically becomes...
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HRA vs HSA vs FSA vs PRA Comparison Chart
Comparison charts provide an excellent way of summarizing complex information. As a follow-up to yesterday's HRA case studies, check out this HRA, HSA, FSA, PRA comparison chart. It's a good summary...
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Why HRAs Will Become the Foundation of Employee Health Benefits
New business methods and technology now allow employers to enroll employees in a single HRA software platform from which employees access their: HRA benefits; HSA link to any financial institution; and...
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History of Health Savings Accounts - MSAs to HSAs
The History of Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs, goes back to the 1980s and 1990s when Congress began discussing Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) In the 1980s and 1990s, Congress began discussing...
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History of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
In the late 1960s, as inflation and other factors increased the cost of employer-sponsored health benefits, employers began instituting annual deductibles and coinsurance on their health benefits...
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Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance - Its Effect on Medical Expenses
Originally, employers thought providing tax-free health benefits and paying all incidental medical expenses was a great way to compensate employees, with federal, state and city governments paying...
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The Growth of Individual Health Insurance - 2000s to Today
Prior to World War II, many employees purchased their own individual or family health insurance policies, sometime called “personal” health insurance policies, just like they do today with homeowners,...
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Why Businesses Should Never Pay Individual Health Insurance Premiums
Federal regulations prohibit businesses from paying directly for employee's individual health insurance premiums, outside of an HRA (Health Reimbursement Arrangement), or other...
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How List-Billing Works with HRAs
Many Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) providers do not allow the use of List-Bill arrangements with HRAs because list-billing creates potential HIPAA/ERISA violations for the employer (See See...
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3 Reasons Employers Should Use HRA Admin Software
Many employers that self-administer an HRA often overlook important compliance obligations that put them at financial risk. Failure to comply with the minimum HRA administration requirements is common...
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4 Controversial Ways to Improve Health Insurance
What else can be done to improve U.S. health insurance? Major pieces of legislation have already been passed to allow (1) tax-deductible employer-reimbursed individual health insurance and (2)...
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Section 105 Plans
A Section 105 plan allows businesses to reimburse an employee for medical and insurance expenses incurred by the employee or his or her dependents. The most common type of Section 105 plan is a...
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Wellness HRAs - A New Way to Reward Healthy Employees
Many businesses might think that getting their employees involved in wellness is not part of their business. Wrong. The health of their employees affects their profit in three ways: (1) Healthy...
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What is a MERP?
MERP stands for Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan and is any plan or arrangement under which a business reimburses an employee for out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred by employees or their...
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Using HRAs to Offer Health Insurance to 1099 Contractors
A common question we receive at Zane Benefits is: "Can I Offer a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) to 1099 Contractors?" Technically, the answer is no. But, many businesses use our HRA Software to...
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4 Health Insurance Reform Alternatives for Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is set to rule on the consitutionality on the health reform bill, or Affordable Care Act (ACA), in the next few days (June 21-25). So, in yesterday's webinar, The History and Future...
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2 Minute Guide to Health Reform HRA Research Fees
Recently, the IRS issued proposed regulations on the comparative effectiveness research fees required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While the ACA may be struck down any day by the Supreme Court,...
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What Motivates Businesses to Provide Employee Health Benefits?
The following post is adapted from a Linked-In Answer that I responded to last month via the Linked-in Answers Tool. It received "Best Answer", so I thought I'd share it on the employee health...
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Health Reform (ACA) is Upheld by Supreme Court
Today, the Supreme Court issued an opinion related to health care reform. A divided Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Obama administration's health-care law. The court said Congress was...
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