THE FIRST DEDICATED MEWA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
Manage your MEWA with a click
Mewa.io helps your MEWA save time and money and adhere to federally-mandated management requirements.
Information and Features
What is a MEWA?
MEWA stands for Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement. MEWAs allow smaller companies to offer benefits in the same way larger employers do, by pooling contributions and sharing risk among all the member employers. For many employers, this allows them to offer excellent plans at a far more affordable price than equivalent Affordable Care Act plans.
Continuation of Coverage
When an employee loses coverage, through loss of employment, retirement of other qualifying event, ERISA requires that participants and their covered dependents be afforded the option of maintaining coverage at their own expense.
In order to accommodate this requirement, COBRA/continuation providers must have accurate information about the employee in order to extend the appropriate options. mewa.io confirms the loss of coverage with employers as well employee information on file. From here, employees can be reached directly, ensuring ERISA regulations are met and also avoiding overpayment on the part of employers.
Medicare Exception Requests
By default, MEWA employers have Medicare Primary Responsibility. This means that the benefits plan will cover costs for Medicare-eligible employees first and Medicare will cover costs second. Because MEWA plans are self-funded by the employers, costs which could otherwise be covered by Medicare could ultimately mean increased premiums for the MEWA.
Instead, employers with less than 20 employees have the option to request a Small Employer Exception and request that Medicare becomes the primary payer. mewa.io notifies employers of this option and allows them to complete the request, quickly and easily, online.
Medical Underwriting
Unlike ACA plans, which are priced based solely on age, area and smoking status, plans offered through MEWAs allow for medical underwriting. This allows the plan to understand the specific risk of each group and price accordingly. For some employers, especially those with younger, health workforces, this can mean substantial savings over ACA plans.
Unfortunately, medical underwriting can be a complex process. In order to be effective, a detailed medical history of each employee is required. mewa.io streamlines and simplifies the process.
Document Management
ERISA requires that the administrator of an employee benefit plan is required to provide participants and covered dependents with a summary plan description (SPD) which explains their rights, benefits and responsibilities under the plan. Additionally, any changes to the plan must also be provided to participants.
Administrators must also provide participants summaries of the annual report which is filed with the Department of Labor.
Beyond the official documents, MEWAs may wish to make additional documents available to participants, like network directories, participation agreements and frequently asked questions. Using the mewa.io Employer Portal, these documents can be made available 24/7.
ACA Compliance
The Affordable Care Act requires that employers of 50 or more full-time employees offer quality, affordable health care for their employees. Additionally, these employers must submit forms to the IRS and each employee indicating which plans were offered, its cost and which employees were covered.
Because MEWAs are treated as a single large employer, this means that this requirement applies to all participants of the MEWA, even those with less than 50 employees.
mewa.io simplifies the tracking and report generation, making this area of ACA compliance a snap!
How can I start using mewa.io?
mewa.io is offered through MEWAs and MEWA Plan Managers. If you’re an employer with a plan offered through a participating MEWA, you’ll receive communications and access to the mewa.io portal!
