Avenue H — July Newsletter

Changes in New Hire Waiting Period

Please be aware that we are now changing our process to include the employee’s hire date in the calculation on the New Hire Waiting Period. This will take place when calculating a new hire’s effective date. The change will not impact those employees who are currently in the system in their new hire waiting period.

Transitional Relief Renewal Update

For plans effective September 1st through December 1st, eligible employers may choose to continue offering non-ACA compliant transitional health benefit options or transition to the new ACA plans at renewal. Employees can re-elect their current coverage or, they can choose from any plan their co-workers were enrolled in during the past year. At renewal, employees must re-enroll or waive coverage; if no action is taken, employees will be defaulted into employers plan, not their current plan, at the close of open enrollment. SelectHealth and UnitedHealthcare participate in the transitional relief.

COBRA Activation

All COBRA activation requests need to be sent to exchange@utah.gov.

FTEs versus Eligible Employees

Beginning January 2016, UT will need to adopt the federal definition of FTEs for the small business group size eligibility. Currently Utah defines the eligibility for small group coverage based on the number of “Full Time eligible” employees not “Full Time Equivalent (FTE)”. Federal law requires all states to comply with the FTE count which includes FT and PT employees to determine what size group they fall under. For the remainder of 2015, Avenue H will still use the number of FT eligible employees. If the group grows in number of employees after the enrollment they are grandfathered for as long as they remain on Avenue H. More information will be provided during the fall broker training.

“Avenue H is a great solution for us.”

Joel Clark, President, Kodiak Cakes

Joel Clark, President of Kodiak Cakes, said about Avenue H. Kodiak Cakes, located in Park City, was founded in 1995, beginning by selling old family recipes of pancake and waffle mixes they have now expanded into the company they are today.” It can be really difficult as a small company to find the right people to work for us if we don’t offer benefits. Employees want to feel like they are working for a real company, and Avenue H helps us provide that security. Plus. it’s all flexible — you can set your own contribution level for your employees.”

Small Employer Premium Tax Credit

There’s been some clarification from HHS on the availability of the Small Employer Tax Credit. Initially we communicated that this tax credit opportunity would expire at the end of this calendar year. That information is incorrect as HHS confirmed that it does not actually expire. Beginning in 2014, the tax credit is available to eligible employers for two consecutive years if enrolled through Avenue H. An employer, however, may claim the tax credit, for example, for the first time in 2018. It would then only be available to the employer for Tax Years 2018 and Tax Years 2019.

Upcoming Dates and Events

Training Dates:

Fall Schedule TBA

Enrollment Dates:

July 10-Aug. employer registration

July 15- Aug. employee enrollment

Aug. 10- Sept. employer registration

Aug. 15- Sept. employee enrollment

July Enrollment Numbers

As of July 1, 2015

Total Groups: 669

Total Employees: 5,410

Total Dependents: 8,638

Total Members: 14,047