Please advise if my fellow employer benefits agents were advised by there carrier representative of the fact that LFP plans do not pay the PCORI fee like the ACA plans do and that the employer is responsible for paying this.
Please advise if my fellow employer benefits agents were advised by there carrier representative of the fact that LFP plans do not pay the PCORI fee like the ACA plans do and that the employer is responsible for paying this.
Leevena, Thank you for your response. I have written these plans going back to maybe 2016 timeline with Humana , Aetna and Nat General. In all of my conversations with the these carriers not one time did "PCORI" fees come up. I was aware of this fee as just one of the various ACA fees that carriers built into the rates and paid the to the government.
But never had the conversation with my LFP clients regarding the the PCORI fee cause I simply did not know that this particular fee was payable by the employer due to the fact that they had a LFP plan.
I became aware of the fact that this fee was payable by the employer when I received about 2 weeks ago an email from my local Blue Cross plan that the PCORI fee for 2019 was due 7/31.
I contacted all of the aforementioned carrier reps and they all basically stated they they thought the PCORI fee would sunset 12/31/2019....
The purpose of my post was to try and see if my fellow agents were aware of this fee and that there clients have been paying it.
It seems that none have and that carrier reps have not known to have this conversation with there agents.
I have groups that have had an LFP plan for a number of years now and have never paid the PCORI fee and really was just wondering how other agents have handled this.
Todd, I understand your frustration. Speaking as a carrier rep, and I do market level funded too, at times we struggle with what information to discuss. Some of this falls into the category of speaking too much and when should we shut up. Also, there is a ton of minutia that might cause a broker to fall asleep. Think about the NY State surcharges for Indigent Care. While it can potentially impact every self-funded plan in the US, brokers tend to daydream when I discuss.
But some fall into the category of not my issue so why risk a legal predicament. As a general rule, if the topic is an employer issue/law, we are usually told to steer clear, for obvious reasons. As a side note, we do provide PCORI info to brokers and employers as well as email reminders.
