On Nov. 14, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services further extended the regulatory deadline for contributing entities to submit their 2014 enrollment counts until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 5, 2014. The Jan. 15, 2015 and Nov. 15, 2015 payment deadlines remain the same.
Contributing Entities
A contributing entity is defined as a health insurance issuer or a third-party administrator (TPA) on behalf of a self-insured group health plan. However, certain types of coverage are excluded from paying reinsurance fees.
- Fully-insured Group Health Plans—For insured health plans, the issuer of the health insurance policy is required to pay reinsurance fees. However, issuers will likely shift the cost of the fees to sponsors through premium increases.
- Self-insured Group Health Plans—For self-insured group health plans, the plan sponsor is liable for paying reinsurance fees, although a TPA or an administrative-services-only (ASO) contractor may pay the fee at the plan’s direction. For a plan maintained by a single employer, the employer is the plan sponsor.
However, there is a limited exception for self-insured, self-administered plans. For 2015 and 2016, the term “contributing entity” excludes self-insured group health plans that do not use a TPA for the core administrative functions of claims processing or adjudication (including management of appeals) or plan enrollment.
The Collection Process
A contributing entity can complete all of the required steps (that is, registration, submission of annual enrollment count and remittance of contributions) on www.pay.gov. Using a contribution form, entities will provide basic company and contact information and the annual enrollment count for the applicable benefit year. The contribution form became available via www.pay.gov on Oct. 24, 2014.
The form will auto-calculate the contribution amounts. To complete the submission, entities will also submit payment information and schedule a payment date for the contributions. Supporting documentation must also be submitted through www.pay.gov with the contribution form.
More Information
HHS offers training for the pay.gov collection process. To receive notices from HHS regarding upcoming training and to review training resources, register on www.regtap.info.
HHS also provided an Annual Enrollment and Contributions Submission Form Manual, which provides step-by-step instructions for completing and submitting the contribution form and supporting documentation, details on key elements and business concepts, and resources to further assist the contributing entity. A Supporting Documentation Job Aid Manual is also available to help contributing entities create the supporting documentation.