Additional Services
Benefit Eligibility Management Systems
Internet enrollment and eligibility management systems have become important and useful tools, but like so many tools each have unique attributes. A system that works well for one client may not be ideal for another. Therefore, we have contracted and licensed with multiple enrollment and eligibility management platforms to meet the needs of our clients.
For clients with enough employees to necessitate an EDI feed with their group benefit carriers, systems have the ability to email notifications to internal staff and company administrators upon batch file completion. The batch scheduler has the ability to connect to carrier and/or other FTP servers and transmit PGP encrypted data files directly. This allows for a company to send electronic eligibility updates to carriers’ securely and easily.
These systems have the capability to store a company’s benefits plan rules, including eligibility restrictions, waiting periods, volume and age calculation frequencies, while maintaining benefit plan coverage and rate history. This system will track all eligible employee data and dependent data, with relationship links to the primary employee record. These systems can filter for designated divisions and/or employee classes. They can also include an auto-enrollment feature for employer provided default benefits. The standard reporting system includes various census, premium discrepancy, enrollment, leave of absence (LOA) tracking, and basic COBRA tracking.
System Features:
- Reporting
- Benefit Accounting
- Billing System Management
- Payroll Deduction Tracking
- Payroll Reconciliation
- Custom Reports
IRS Section 125 Plans
Flexible Benefits Plans, also referred to as Cafeteria Plans, were made possible through Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Service code created by the Revenue Act of 1978. These plans help make benefits more affordable for employees and provide additional benefit choices. Both employers and employees benefit from employee participation.
Flexible Benefits Plans offer both Premium Conversion Programs and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), which include Dependent Care and Health Care Reimbursement Plans. Flexible Benefit Plans allow employees to pay for qualified benefits with pre-tax dollars, which decreases their taxable income and increases their spendable income. As a result, the plans lower an employer’s payroll base and provide tax savings. These tax dollars saved can give employees the ability to pay for the additional options that are provided with Voluntary Insurance Benefits.
IRS Code Section 106 allows several types of Voluntary (employee-paid) Insurance products to be among the qualified benefits under a flexible benefits plan such as: Group Term Life, Accident, Cancer, Short Term Disability, and Medical Supplement plans.
Administrative Costs
Chimienti & Associates has partnered with various Third Party Administrators with proven track records for service. These partnerships have allowed our Agency to offer discounted Administration Fees for a Flex Plan Set Up, when including our Voluntary Benefit Plans.
Communications
Through our market knowledge, we stay informed of all the trends and developments associated with Flexible Benefit Plans. Our Benefits Counselors can effectively communicate Flexible Benefits Plans to our clients through extensive program knowledge, interpersonal skills, and enrollment support materials. We utilize state of the art electronic enrollment capabilities including one-on-one Laptop Benefits Enrollment or Internet Web-based Enrollment options designed to best suit the client’s needs.
Employer Advantages:
- Tax Savings
- FUTA Enhanced Benefits Programs
- FICA Savings
- Benefits Choices
- Increases Spendable Income for Employees
Available Enrollment Platforms
The experience and relationships developed over the years with our Providers and Carriers’ enrollment platforms allows our Agency to offer clients a variety of system options at a discounted cost, and in some scenarios at no cost, while maintaining the highest levels of trained professional support to our clients.
- AdminDirect
- BenefitsManagerPro.com
- InRoll+
- Ease Central
- Celerix
- Harmony
- Allstate AllAp
- Common Census
- BenefitVision
Common Remitter Services
When an Employer offers their employees a variety of products provided through multiple insurance carriers, they may experience difficulty when reconciling their bills. Not all products are “paid as billed.” For example, bills for self-administered group products are adjusted between billing periods to account for new hires or terminations. Some Employers require all deductions be combined into a single-slot payroll deduction, which can become complicated when multiple bills are combined with employee-paid or contributory products. Common Remitter Services (CRS) allow you to make one monthly payment to them and they reconcile all of the voluntary carriers’ premiums and remit them for your company.
Common remittance (also known as Single Source Billing or Third Party Administration/TPA) is a bill paying function that utilizes payroll deductions and streamlines payment of premium. It allows for an Employer to remit premium using only one method of payment, whether it be by check or wire transfer. The payment is then automatically allocated to each carrier for each individual employee by the Common Remitter.
One benefit to using a TPA is that it makes premium payments simple and safe. Using a Common Remitter Service or TPA can increase efficiency for all payroll deducted benefits, reduce data entry, and reduce the need for vendor forms, mailing costs, and report preparations.
Chimienti & Associates offers services through two TPAs. We also offer eligibility management systems for companies with 75 or more employees that can include common remittance services such as premium tracking and payroll deduction reconciliation against voluntary benefit eligibility records.
Employers are not limited to our TPA service providers.