Medcom Benefit Solutions recently announced a significant and valuable expansion of its Consumer Driven Health Plan division with the introduction of a Disaster Relief Program. The program, Medcom Cares, assists employers looking for time-sensitive and creative financial ways for helping their employees dealing with furloughs, reduced hours, and layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medcom Cares is based on IRS Section 139: Disaster Relief Payments. Section 139 states that employers are allowed to provide "Qualified Disaster Relief Payments" to employees, tax-free, who are affected by a federally declared disaster. A qualified disaster relief payment means any amount paid...

Medcom is getting a lot of questions regarding Flexible Spending Accounts, and other tax-advantaged benefit plans, and mid-year changes. We are here to provide additional clarification in a time when that seems hard to find. We are certainly in unusual territory, and the situation and changes with the IRS are fluid. 

To date, we still have not seen that the IRS has allowed for any new mid-year election changes to FSA's in light of the coronavirus or any changes to grace periods or rollovers. Under the existing rules, the Plan Administrator generally has the right...

When I dreamt of what it would be like to work remotely, I never really imagined it would be like this. I didn't think we would be in the situation, which has forced many of us to retreat to our homes, only venturing out for necessities and fresh air at the end of the day. No, I never pictured it quite like this. I thought it would be fun, focused, but, more importantly, part-time.

Many people are facing new challenges right now, one of them being work. How do we find focus amid the chaos...

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact our daily lives, we must keep up to date with new government acts and announcements to remain aware of what is changing. Many of us are transitioning to new, isolated lifestyles as a precautionary measure to diminish the spread of this contagious virus, but unfortunately, some may already be exposed. 

Yesterday, the House and Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. From there, the Act was promptly signed by the President of the United States, to take effect April 2, 2020. Within the new Act, there are two sections related...