For the average HR professional the fall season means open enrollment for benefit plans. Many benefit plans have major changes due to healthcare reform so it is more important then ever the employers provide effective communitions to their employees during open enrollment. Frank Lutz, an expert on communications and polling offered the following insights during his keynote address at the 23rd Annual Benefit Forum and Expo on September 26, 2010 as reported by SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management).
Luntz recommended simplicity, brevity, credibility and consistency with a focus on visual images. “Employees don’t want to read long texts, and won’t… when you include a graphic on the page, employees are 60 percent more likely to read that page”. Pictures of employees receiving services from a doctor or other health care practitioner are particularly effective images.
A recent poll showed that 51% of employees prefer to receive health care information through e-mail or online, and only 26% prefer receiving an easy-to-read handout or booklet. “Five years ago, receiving the booklet was the No. 1 response,” Luntz said. Lutz also recommends a Q&A style format. ”Ask the questions that employees are most likely to ask, the way they are likely to ask them.”
For more great information on benefits and benefit communication be sure to check out this website, http://ebn.benefitnews.com/.
Most open enrollment periods for benefits programs happen in the fall so use the summer months to get a head start. After researching what health care reform requirements will impact you, schedule a meeting with your insurance broker. Draw on the agent’s expertise to walk through your benefits plans, plan by plan, and make changes where necessary (such as to the dependent age coverage limitations, which are increasing to age 26). Be sure that the broker and insurance carrier work together to present you with revised plan documents, as necessary. KPA offers a free webinar and white paper on How Healthcare Reform Impacts Dealerships.
Healthcare Reform Intersects with 1099 Forms
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010Many changes related to healthcare reform go into effect today, September 23, 2010, with more changes coming throughout 2011 and 2012. One of the lesser known provisions of healthcare reform is a new requirement regarding submittal of 1099 forms. Effective January 2012, the provision will require any business that purchases more than $600 worth of goods or services from another business to submit a 1099 tax form to the Internal Revenue Service.
The Senate considered amending this provision as part of the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010, which passed just this week. Neither amendments by Sens. Mike Johanns, R-Nebraska, and Bill Nelson, D-Florida, were able to achieve enough votes to move forward.
The IRS is requesting public comment on how it can best implement the new law. Under the proposed regulations, businesses would have to report their payments to goods and other property, and payments to most corporations on Form 1099. Currently, most payments to corporations are currently exempt from this requirement. Purchases with debit cards and credit cards will remain exempt from this requirement because those are already reported by banks and other payment processors, the IRS said in a statement. The public can submit comments by:
•E-mail, with “Notice 2010-51″ in the subject line (Notice.Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov)
•Posting a letter to: Internal Revenue Service, CC:PA:LPD:PR ( Notice 2010-51), Room 5203, P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044; and
•Hand-delivering a comment letter to CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2010-51), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The deadline for comments is Sept. 29, 2010.
Tags: 1099 forms, benefit, form 1099, healthcare reform, internal revenue service, IRS, requesting public comment
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