What's New

New IRS Rule: Tax Treatment of Healthcare Benefits for Children Under Age 27

The IRS has issued Notice 2010-38 in response to the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA). On June 7, we issued a notice to employers giving guidance regarding the tax treatment of employer provided health benefits for young adults under age 27. Please read the Bulletin for more information.

COBRA Premium Assistance Extended

December 21, 2009, President Obama signed a bill extending COBRA premium subsidy provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Provisions of the law include a longer subsidy period, new eligibility cutoff date, restoration of coverage, and required notices.

We are in the process of revising the required notices and other documents to reflect the new law. For more details, please see our Employers page.

We also invite you to read our January 12 Employer Bulletin and our
FAQ: COBRA Provisions of the ARRA (updated 1/12/10).

New Program to Prevent Identity Theft

In compliance with the FTC's Identity Theft Prevention Red Flags Rule as it pertains to the Benny® MasterCard® , Manley Services has created a new program that took effect November 1, 2009. The program is intended to identify, prevent and mitigate the risk of Identity Theft through the use of a specific set of procedures meant to detect fraudulent card use patterns.

In conjunction with our Benny MasterCard vendor, Evolution Benefits, we have identified those areas of potential risk as well as features of the card that significantly mitigate the risk of fraud and abuse. We have introduced and implemented the program with internal staff, and want to assure our participants that while the risk of Identity Theft is low due to the limited-use nature of the cards, we are committed to monitor and update this program on an annual basis.