Benefit Briefs : Open Enrollment 2015 Edition!

Important Open Enrollment Notice

Remember we can help anyone enroll during this year's open enrollments, on the healthcare.gov marketplace, or off. Including small businesses or those on Medicare!

Tomorrow, Saturday November 15th: Individual ( under age 65) Open Enrollment Begins for January 2015 effective dates

Total Benefit Solutions will be open over the weekend of November 15th once the Open Enrollment Season Begins...

As soon as we are able, we will be sending out e-mails to our individual health plan clients with rates and comparisons for the coming year. When you get your e-mail, please respond and let us know how you wish to proceed. You may not have to even change your plans if you choose to remain the same. We will be here to take your calls and assist with enrollment over the weekend.

For clients on plans that are being eliminated, you should receive a notice directly from your insurer. Please call us right away so we can make certain you are enrolled on time, for the correct plan!

Total Benefit Solutions will also be open extended hours during the week of November 17th-21st to help as many people as possible get enrolled ( and subsidized if applicable) for January 1st!

Please visit our open enrollment central page on our website to get prepared and see the plan rates and designs as they become available. Click here to get to that page.

Upcoming Important Dates

November 30th SHOP open enrollment ends
December 7th: Medicare Annual Open Enrollment period closes.
January 1st to February 14th 2015: Medicare annual disenrollment period.
February 15th 2015: Individual (pre-65) open enrollment period closes.
February 16th 2015: Total Benefit Solutions is closed for recovery.

We are all licensed, insured, retrained and recertified for the upcoming enrollment year, 2015. Trust your enrollment to your dedicated professionals at Total Benefit Solutions, Inc.

What is Benefit Aid?

Total Benefit Solutions has partnered with Benefit Aid!

Benefit Aid provides a comprehensive supplemental bundle of benefits that includes dental, hearing and vision discounts, a 24 hour teledoc benefit, nurseline, pet healthcare savings plan, medical health advisor, medical bill saver advocates and much more.

For only $19.95 per month for the entire family the bundle is an excellent supplement to any medical plan, or it can be offered as an employee benefit. Click here for more information.

At $29.95 a Job Loss protection benefit is added to the bundle, which provides for a health insurance premium reimbursement in the event of a job loss. Click here for that bundle.

HR: Total Benefit Solutions to partner with ThinkHR

In another effort to enhance our client experience and bring value to our small business clients, Total Benefit Solutions is proud to announce that we have entered into an agreement to provide Think HR.

Our clients should have received an introductory e-mail with instructions on how to access their complimentary ThinkHR account. Think HR will help you:

Stay up to date with the latest news and resources
Remain compliant with best practices from HR professionals
Build tools like job descriptions, employee handbooks and more!

Click here to learn more!

Health Reform: Checklist Released for 2015-2016

This bulletin features a checklist, including descriptions of key topics, to guide your business or organization through Affordable Care Act compliance in 2015-2016.

Click Here to Get the Checklist

Health Reform: Penalties for Using Individual Insurance

IMPORTANT Blue grunge stamp on white background

IRS Highlights Stiff Penalty for Reimbursing Individual Premium

Click here to read the FAQ.

Click here for all of the latest updates.

Bookmark this link as we update this site multiple times each week!

Now More Than Ever, Stay Informed

Things change faster now in weeks, than they used to in years. Clients often ask us why we do not send out bulletins more often. The answer is simply because if we did we would be sending you notices many times each month, cramming your inbox.

To avoid that, we post updates multiple times each month at our website, www.totalbenefits.net

There you can always search for answers to your questions, or use your newsreader to follow the feed as changes are posted.

The latest posts always appear on the right hand side of the site. You can also follow us on social media sites such as to get notified when updates occur.

We try to keep this newsletter brief and to the point to respect your time and inbox space. In these times of so much change that certainly is a challenge. Thank you for subscribing!

Warm Regards,

Edward T. MacConnell CBC, CHRS
Certified Healthcare Reform Specialist