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Best In-Class Business Insurance for Technology Firms & IT Consultants
There’s no denying that we’re living in a world that has revolutionized the way we communicate with one another. Years ago, word of mouth and postal mail was the only way to deliver messages; now, we can send messages in less than a second. What does your current marketing plan look like? How are you communicating with customers and clients? If you have yet to take advantage of social media, you should definitely start.
Regardless of your current social media status, there are major considerations that must be kept in mind. Here’s a close look at good business practices you can follow to help avoid advertising and social media liability issues.
Before you can protect yourself from social media liability issues, you must first know what they are. Generally, social media information security legal risks will fall into one of three categories:
When you advertise on social media, you’ll likely attract a group of fans and followers. When these people start following your company’s profile, you will gain access to certain information that is available through their profiles. It’s your job to protect any information that you gain, which means that you cannot give it out to third parties unless the consumers give you permission.
The whole point of advertising on social media is because you want to engage consumers and build your brand, but this is also the primary reason that other businesses advertise via social media too. Keeping this in mind, make sure that the content you use in your branding (images, music, written text etc.) is not copyrighted by someone else or some other business. IP infringement issues will become present if you don’t make sure all materials posted on your social media profiles are in compliance with copyright and trademark laws.
It’s also on your social media profiles that some people might make defamatory statements. If they do, it is your responsibility to make sure the remarks are removed. If you were to leave them for everyone to see, this can lead to lawsuits over defamation.
Most social media platforms have their own laws and guidelines in place relating to advertising. For example, if you are running a contest on your social media profile, you’ll need to make sure that you display the appropriate notices and disclaimers.
If you are ever subpoenaed to court to deliver information gathered through your social media marketing endeavors, it is imperative that you comply.
The best way to make sure that your social media marketing tactics are in good standing is by creating a social media policy. This policy should be reviewed on a regular basis, and as technology becomes more advanced, your policy will need to be updated to ensure social media liability issues are avoided.
While the Affordable Care Act has changed the landscape for many aspects of health insurance options for business, there is still a significant difference between group health insurance and the coverage you might select as an individual.
Before 2014 and the ACA, health insurance applicants were subject to a review of their medical history and the presence of pre-existing conditions. The goal of insurance companies is to measure their risks over a pool of insured clients and to set premiums to cover that risk. Traditionally, companies enjoyed more favorable rates over individual coverage due to their participation in a larger, healthier pool of insured. Individuals seeking insurance for themselves and their families were pooled with others needing private coverage, and those often resulted in larger premiums being charged by the insurance companies.
In today’s health insurance environment, there are still a number of differences between group and private health insurance. These include:
As an employee in a group plan, you have a fairly narrow number of options to match your plan with your specific needs. Your employer will negotiate an initial plan with certain deductibles, benefits and other elements. While you may have a few choices, they will be constrained to the overall plan affecting all your fellow co-workers. On the other hand, when you select an individual plan, you can work on your own or with an experienced agent to select from a wide variety of plans. You can balance your monthly premium against a larger or smaller deductible, and add the other elements you desire for you and your family’s needs.
While the laws and regulations in this area are constantly changing, your coverage in a group plan is deductible. However, this may be affected by your employer’s use of a Defined Contribution HRA and how they treat contributions to it. On the other hand, if you purchase insurance as an individual, you have a number of tax factors to consider, including whether or not you avail yourself of subsidies under the ACA.
Many people find managing their health plans somewhat intimidating. A group plan has the advantage of an employer not only paying all or part of the monthly premium, they will normally have an administrator to handle other details. This includes deducting any premium share you are responsible for, processing claims and other plan documents, and helping you answer questions and resolve problems. Of course, with an individual plan, you are responsible for all paperwork, paying all premiums, and dealing with any issues that arise between your health care provider and the insurance company.
When you participate in a group health plan you have limited ability to keep the plan after you leave a company, voluntarily or involuntarily. While you can select COBRA protection for a period, you may find this prohibitive in cost. With an individual health care plan you can choose to keep or modify your coverage based on your own desires, independent of your employment status.
Many companies find offering health insurance helps them attract and keep good employees. This is because much of the direct cost and administrative hassles of the insurance are borne by the company. However, with the shifting environment for health insurance, many individuals are finding individual health insurance is worth the added cost and administrative details.
With tax season in full swing we have been getting questions about reporting to the IRS information relating to covered individuals that have been provided minimum essential coverage (MEC). On March 10, 2014 the U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS published final rules to implement the information reporting provisions for insurers and certain employers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that take effect in 2015. To help answer some questions about 6055 reporting requirements I have included this FAQ from United Health Care. Click here to see the document-
Our resident health expert Gauri Gupta has broken down the information with a few highlights.
Employers who provide minimum essential coverage (MEC) during a calendar year are required to report to the IRS certain information about individuals covered by Minimum Essential Coverage and also to provide a statement to those individuals.
Section 6055 reporting is the required reporting to the IRS of information relating to covered individuals that have been provided MEC by health insurance issuers (issuers), certain employers, and other entities that provide MEC. A statement disclosing MEC information must also be furnished to responsible individuals (i.e., subscriber).
To report coverage information to the IRS and the taxpayers the below forms will be used. The forms contain identifying information about the employee or policy holder (i.e., the responsible individual) that is the primary subscriber of the MEC. In addition, in the case of employer-provided coverage, both forms will include the name, address, phone number and Employer Identification Number (EIN) of the employer sponsoring the coverage. Finally, both forms include identifying information about the health issuer or other entity that provides the coverage on behalf of the employer. The coverage information will be used by employees (and family members) to report on their tax returns that they had MEC for some or all months of the year.
Employers with 50 or more covered full-time employees that are subject to the employer responsibility provisions will use form 1095-C. The form contains information about the offer of health insurance coverage made to employee, the employee’s share of the lowest cost premium and other information related to the employer responsibility provisions. Individuals that purchase health insurance coverage through the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace will use the information on form 1095-C to determine if they are eligible for a premium tax credit
Form 1095-B is the return used for Reporting MEC under sections 6055 to the IRS and for furnishing coverage information to covered individuals.
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