August 2014

Happy August from HR Simplified!  As the Dog Days of Summer are upon us your HR Simplified team is working hard to continue making improvements in the service that we provide.  Please keep reading for additional information on several important topics.

Are you Thinking of Implementing an HSA?

 

The success of implementing an HSA program depends in large part to educating your employees, the ease of use associated with account itself, and perhaps most importantly your HSA partner.  HR Simplified has been working in the HSA space for several years and we are prepared to bring our experience to your employees.

 

Via our pretax administration system we can offer three separate -tried and proven - HSA banking partner options.  Each of these partners offer integrated system functionality so that your employees can access all of their pretax accounts with a single debit card.  Each enrolled employee will also be able to view all of their account balance information online via the same system that is already in place.  An employee with an HSA, Limited Purpose FSA, Parking and Transit can view all accounts, history, and balance information via a single secure logon.

 

We are confident that our pretax experience, working in concert with any of our HSA banking partners, would be a great addition to your Benefits Program.  Please contact your Account Executive with any and all questions regarding our program and how it can be tailored to fit your specific needs.    

Your Monthly COBRA Reports

 

As the final step of the monthly COBRA cycle the collected premium refund is returned to you via check or ACH.  If you are currently receiving a check and would like to sign up for our ACH program and streamline your process please let us know and we can get that in place immediately!

 

While the premium refund portion is very important, reviewing your reports timely has equal importance.  The goal of our monthly reports is to provide you with a detailed account of the COBRA activity that took place during the prior month.  Our goal is to have the reports posted to our secure website by the 10th business day of the month.  Please be sure to review these reports against your carrier invoices every month and notify us of any discrepancies.   Carriers often have a 60-day retroactivity change window; as a result, your prompt review is crucial.

Making COBRA Payments Easier for Participants

 

Did you know that COBRA participants can make online payments?  We understand by the very nature of COBRA that participants wait until the end of their 30-day grace period before mailing their monthly premium payment.  Writing out a check every month is not only time consuming for the participant but leads to a number of payments every month having to be rejected due to the postmark deadline being missed.  When this happens, we have no choice but to adhere to DOL regulations and terminate coverage. 

 

Making online payments is the solution to this problem!  Participants have access to login to our secure Participant Portal 24/7 and make payment for their monthly amount due or even pay in advance if they wish.  Payment is accepted via credit card or electronic check and can be initiated up until the grace period deadline.  Each new COBRA enrollee is notified of the online payment via their Enrollment Confirmation letter that is mailed along with their monthly payment coupons.


New Members of the HR Simplified Team!

 

Felicia Fields joins HR Simplified after spending the last 4 years gaining industry experience starting off as a customer service representative in a call center, advancing to Sr. Representative and Email Team Coordinator and finally moving to Relationship Manager in the last year, servicing a book of business of 75 clients.

 

Charlene Ford comes to us after nearly 6 years in the industry.  Her hard work has led to a number of varying positions including Case Manager and COBRA Account Manager and her experiences include the full processes associated with COBRA, Open Enrollment, FSA, DCA, and Commuter benefits.  Charlene will be called on to hit the ground running in the PreTax department but her COBRA skills will certainly be utilized to meet client needs.


 
Cindy Sanders joined the HR Simplified team this past April.  Prior to being part of our COBRA team, Cindy has spent the last 7 years working on both small  company and corporate COBRA teams and knows firsthand how to provide excellent Customer Service.  Her experience will quickly be put to use working on the daily tasks that are required to keep COBRA running smoothly and participants happy!

Mike Melnychuk
CEO & President HR Simplified, Inc.

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