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5500 Preparer's Manual for 2012 Plan Years
The premier resource in the field of Form 5500 preparation, 5500 Preparer's Manual will help you handle the required annual Form 5500 filings for both pension benefits and welfare benefit plans.
From Spencer's Benefits Reports: The November 15 deadline is fast approaching for sponsors of group health plans to provide their Medicare-eligible beneficiaries with a notice advising the beneficiaries whether or not the employer coverage for prescription drugs is actuarially equivalent (creditable coverage) to the Medicare Part D drug coverage. Retirees need to know this because the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit is voluntary, requires an additional premium, and imposes a premium penalty for each month that the retiree delays enrollment in Part D, other than when enrolled in an actuarially equivalent retiree (or active employee) prescription drug plan, including COBRA continuation of coverage for Part D-eligible beneficiaries whose primary insured is no longer employed.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued guidance, including sample language for the notices of creditable coverage and of noncreditable coverage, that plan sponsors and insurers must provide to Medicare Part D-eligible individuals covered through active employment or retirement. The guidance and related notices are available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CreditableCoverage/. Plan sponsors are not required to use the CMS’s model language for creditable coverage notices, but if the sponsors prepare their own notices, they must cover a prescribed set of issues in their notice. Also, the creditable coverage notice may be included with plan enrollment materials in the fall.
Furthermore, in guidance issued in 2008, the CMS urged retiree drug plan sponsors to clearly and regularly give their retirees information about the consequences on existing employment-based retiree coverage if a retiree enrolls in Medicare Part D while covered under the group plan (for example, if the retiree will lose the retiree drug coverage or all retiree medical coverage).
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.
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