Alliant Employee Benefits- Western Region

Join us in welcoming Cole Piccioni as Vice President, Account Executive at Alliant Employee Benefits – Western group. With an impressive 16 years of experience in the Employee Benefits industry, Cole has a strong ability to develop and execute innovative benefits strategies that drive measurable results for organizations. His expertise spans a wide range of areas, from enhancing benefit plans to ensuring compliance and fostering strong client relationships.

Greg Zimmer, CEO of Alliant Insurance Services, has been named to the Orange County Business Journal's OC500, honoring Orange County’s most influential people (https://lnkd.in/gv4Ard_P). Greg joined Alliant in 1998 and took over as CEO in January 2024. Under his leadership, Alliant continues to expand through a strategic mix of acquisitions, organic growth, and attracting top talent from across the industry. Greg’s approach to leadership: “Identify an opportunity, then find the best platform to build it.”

Join us in welcoming Katie Huddleston as Vice President, Account Executive at Alliant Employee Benefits – Western group. Katie will be instrumental in guiding clients through decision-making and strategic processes to ensure they receive top-notch services. Katie brings more than 24 years in the industry and ample experience helping clients navigate complex decision-making processes to optimize their employee benefits programs.

Join us in welcoming Ken Lowman as Vice President, Account Executive at Alliant Employee Benefits – Western group! Ken has more than 25 years of experience as an employee benefits strategist and consultant in all areas of plan design, total rewards, plan management and administration. Ken works with both public and private sector clients, with expertise in alternative funding and healthcare risk solutions.

Compliance FAQ of the Week Q: We want to offer additional fertility benefits, are there compliance issues we should be consider before proceeding? A: Yes, there are several significant compliance issues to consider before proceeding. Most fertility benefits take the form of a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) for fertility procedures with a dollar limit on reimbursements. For these dollar limits to be compliant with ACA market reforms, the benefit can only be offered to individuals enrolled in the employer’s underlying medical plan (meeting general ACA integration requirements). Next, not all fertility services can be provided on a tax favored basis, which means the dollars spent by the employer are not deductible and the amount of reimbursements must be imputed as income to the employee. Generally, for tax-favored status, fertility procedures would need to be for overcoming medical infertility, which means that they may not be tax favored for certain same sex couples looking to conceive or couples looking to delay conception. Also, like all HRAs, domestic partners who are not tax dependents (IRC 105/152) cannot receive tax favored benefits. Partners, owners, and other non-employees also cannot participate on a tax favored basis. Lastly, fertility HRAs, like many other HRAs, will create a PCORI fee payment obligation unless all covered individuals are also covered by the employer’s self-funded major medical plan (PCORI non-duplication rule). In addition to these concerns, employers should remember that any HRA is a self-funded medical plan that will require compliance with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. COBRA and more general ERISA reporting and disclosure rules also apply.

We are thrilled to welcome Ricardo Reyes ("Rick") to the Alliant team as Vice President, Account Executive in our Employee Benefits – Western Region group! With 17 years of experience in the Employee Benefits industry, Rick brings invaluable expertise in developing benefits solutions for privately held, middle-market companies. His strategic thinking, deep knowledge, and consultative approach will be key to driving positive outcomes and delivering exceptional value to our clients.

The Women-Led Top Workplace award "highlights exceptional organizations led by women, celebrating their ability to create thriving, supportive workplace cultures." Alliant Employee Benefits - Western Region is proud to be led by excellent women leaders who are not only trailblazing in the benefits industry but are also fostering a collaborative work environment that encourages learning and growth among its employees. Their leadership style exemplifies the positive impact women can have in shaping workplace culture and driving industry innovation. https://bit.ly/4eyneq5

Mina Fujikawa has joined Alliant as First Vice President with Employee Benefits. With more than 30 years of experience in benefits consulting, she will specialize in helping organizations streamline their benefits programs to support growth and improve operational efficiency. ? Mina joins Alliant with a background in providing program efficiencies and strategic guidance for organizations of all sizes across both public/non-public sectors and various industries. ? Prior to Alliant, Mina held a senior role at a large global brokerage.

Compliance FAQ of the Week Q: Our organization is undertaking a number of acquisitions over the coming months. I have heard we want to avoid accidentally creating a MEWA. Why is that important and how do we avoid it? A: A “multiple employer welfare arrangement” (MEWA) is an employee welfare benefit plan, or any other arrangement, that provides employee welfare benefits to the employees of two or more employers that are not part of the same controlled group. A controlled group exists where there is sufficient common ownership among entities as defined under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) such that they are viewed as a single employer. Where that is the case, those entities can provide health coverage to employees under a single group health plan. Where sufficient common ownership does not exist, a plan that covers the employees of those unrelated entities is generally considered a MEWA. Employers sometimes form MEWAs intentionally, but MEWAs can also be formed accidentally, where a single plan covers the employees of entities that are related, but do not have sufficient common ownership to be considered members of the same controlled group. It is not uncommon for this to happen as a result of a business reorganization, including an acquisition or joint venture. Ideally, organizations work with their tax advisors and attorneys to proactively address controlled group issues as part of a business reorganization. Often, however, that does not happen. As a result, benefits professionals within an organization that is involved in frequent acquisitions or other reorganizations, should be aware of these rules, and avoid inadvertently creating a MEWA. While MEWAs are group health plans with the standard compliance requirements, they have heightened compliance obligations at both a federal and state level, with the potential for significant penalties for compliance failures. Multistate employers should be especially mindful of this issue given that many states have their own rules regulating MEWAs. The MEWA compliance landscape is among the most complex group health plan compliance topics and a full discussion of the issues exceeds the scope of this FAQ.

Compliance FAQ of the Week Q: Our organization is an ALE with a fully-insured medical plan. Do we need to prepare a Form 1095-C for our Puerto Rico employees? A: No. Employees working only in a U.S. territory are not ACA FTEs. Only hours of service related to work performed in the United States are counted when determining an employee’s ACA FTE status. For this purpose, hours of service does not include compensation from sources outside the United States. The term United States refers only to the 50 States and the District of Columbia, and does not include the U.S. territories. For ALEs with a fully-insured medical plan, a Form 1095-C is only required for FTEs of the ALE for any month of the calendar year. Considering employees working only in a U.S. territory are not FTEs, ALEs with a fully-insured medical plan do not need to prepare a Form 1095-C for these employees. Note that for ALEs with a self-insured plan, a Form 1095-C is required for all individuals covered by the plan. Therefore, ALEs with a self-insured medical plan do need to prepare a Form 1095-C for employees working only in a U.S. territory that are enrolled in coverage.