Bite-size lessons that teach one benefits concept at a time (Learn tier).
The one idea: Two large Excel workbooks open at once compete for the same memory and processing power, so everything lags, even drop-downs, even if each file runs fine on its own. If you’ve had two big Excel files open and noticed things crawl, you’re not imagining it. Brokers lean on Excel for quoting (the … Read more
The one idea: No one is penalized for declining employer coverage. The only thing that bites is taking a Marketplace subsidy they weren’t eligible for, which gets corrected at tax time. Employers ask this a lot: is an employee penalized for turning down the company plan and getting coverage somewhere else? The short answer is … Read more
The one idea: Insurance is prepaid by the month, so it runs out the clock. An FSA is funded by paychecks that stop the day you leave, so it stops too. When an employee leaves a job, their health insurance usually lasts through the end of the month, but their FSA stops on their last … Read more
The one idea: When a group is too small for COBRA, state “mini-COBRA” continuation still applies, and because states like Texas publish no model notices, the safest move is to outsource it to a TPA. Most agents know COBRA cold. But once a fully insured group drops below the 20-employee COBRA threshold, it usually falls … Read more
The one idea: If FMLA applies, the employer must keep paying its normal share of the premium and keep coverage identical during leave. The employee still owes their share, collected one of three ways. When someone goes out on FMLA, employers ask the same first question: do we still have to pay our part of … Read more
The one idea: Texas’s SB 896 doubles the newborn-enrollment window from 31 to 60 days, but only for fully insured plans renewing on or after 1/1/2026. Self-insured ERISA plans still follow the 30-day HIPAA floor. When a baby arrives, parents scramble to add them to coverage. In Texas, that scramble just got more forgiving, for … Read more
The one idea: If an employer has 20 or more employees, its group plan pays before Medicare. Get this backwards and Medicare can claw the money back years later. Medicare’s rules about who pays first, the group plan or Medicare, aren’t just confusing. They can be expensive if you get them wrong. The 20-employee threshold … Read more
The one idea: If you own more than one business, the IRS may combine them. A 35-employee company plus a 20-employee company can together become a 55-employee Applicable Large Employer, subject to the ACA mandate. Here’s a trap that catches small-business owners: you own a landscaping company with 35 employees and a nursery with 20. … Read more
The one idea: A home-care agency with hundreds of caregivers might not owe ACA coverage at all, if the client or family receiving care (not the agency) is the common-law employer. When the ACA passed, low-margin industries with lots of workers worried about the employer mandate. The law created no industry carve-outs, but regulators flagged … Read more