30 Second Insurance Tips©

Tip #329- When Did You Learn To Count?

Some of us learned to count in pre-school. (Some of us are still using our fingers and toes!)
But if you’re an HR professional, you’re probably still figuring out how to count employees.
For example:
  • Under The Affordable Care Act, employers must annually determine if they are an Applicable Large Employer (ALE); that is, one with 50 or more full time and full time equivalent (FTE) employees. Click here to learn how to count FTEs.
  • Average total number of employees is an entirely different way to count, used in this case to determine if you are a small group eligible for guarantee issue rules; i.e., < 50 ATNE’s.
  • COBRA requires a different method of counting. Click here for the Employee Benefit Security Administration’s Employer’s Guide to COBRA.
  • Click here for another (35 page) regulatory gem to ‘help’ you count to 20; i.e., when Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) rules kick in for employer sponsored group plans.
I could go on. You also need to count employees for the FMLA, ADEA, PDA, Form 5500 filing rules, yada, yada, yada.
If you’re in HR, it must feel like the neighborhood bully is on your chest demanding you “say uncle.”
Apropos!