U.S. Healthcare Reform Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Reconciliation Bill were signed into law in March 2010. While these new laws have some immediately known implications for employers, many provisions of the law will require regulatory guidance. This is the first in a series of articles that describe the impact of the law on IU’s benefit plans.
Pre-tax Reimbursement Plans
To offset new costs, the PPACA includes provisions that limit the use of certain pre-tax reimbursement plans. For example:
- Beginning January 2011, over-the-counter medicines will not be eligible for reimbursement under the IU Tax Saver Benefit (TSB) plan or the HDHP & Health Savings Account (HSA) plan, unless the medicine is prescribed by a physician.
- Beginning 2013, pre-tax contributions to the healthcare reimbursement provision of the IU TSB plan will be limited to $2,500 per year.
Coverage for Adult Children
Beginning January 1, 2011, IU-sponsored medical plans are required to cover an employee’s or spouse’s child until age 26, if the child is not eligible to enroll in another employer-sponsored medical plan. This coverage will not be based on whether a child is married; coverage will not apply to a child’s spouse or children.
Other University Policy
There are provisions in PPACA that are unrelated to health benefits, one of which is a requirement that employers provide reasonable breaks to nursing mothers for the expressing of milk. Employers must also provide a private place to express milk, other than a bathroom. Indiana University’s personnel policy for Staff and Hourly employees, “Provisions for Lactating Mothers,” already contains these provisions.
PPACA Provisions in Future Articles
Articles in future editions of The Informed Employee will cover such topics as:
- Cost sharing for preventive services
- Insurance exchanges
- Medicare taxes
- Annual limits
- Definition of full-time employees
- Automatic enrollments into medical coverage
- “Free Choice” vouchers
Management Training Series (MTS)
The Management Training Series (MTS) has graduated its nineteenth class; twenty-one participants join over 450 graduates. Started in 1991, MTS continues to provide managers, directors, and vice chancellors from all campuses with the skills to master organizational and leadership challenges.
Approach
MTS is designed with a focus on:
- fostering high-performance teams for greater organizational effectiveness;
- leading organizations in times of growth, change and workforce diversity; and
- creating alignment of organizational goals with institutional priorities.
Real-Life Leadership
The series is comprised of monthly (October – April) day-long sessions in which participants apply MTS strategies and concepts to a real-life situation. Participants are assigned to a project team; a “client” is identified from among the team members (with the rest of the project team serving as “consultants”); and the team identifies a real-life work, team, or leadership issue to work on during the series.
Outcomes
Outcomes realized:
- improved/redesigned business processes
- enhanced communication between managers and employees
- deepened sense of ownership regarding the organization’s goals
- increased awareness of how one’s style of leadership influences the actions of others
- broadened understanding of the University as a whole and stronger relationships university-wide
Selection
MTS participants are selected by vice presidents, the provost or chancellors. The series is sponsored and facilitated by University Human Resource Services.
2009 – 2010 Graduates
Raj Adhikari
Jason Barnett
Kim Morris-Newson
Amy Parraga
John Baumann
Violet Bloom
Rebecca Bratt
Bill Brown
Michelle Dugger
Charles Edelen
Janet Kittell
Martin Leal
Glenn Lightner
Nick Ray
Chip Rondot
Rendy Schrader
Charlie Sinex
Tracey Wagner
Troy Williams
Jim Wolfe
Frances Yates
