May 05, 2015
On April 20, 2015, the New Hampshire Insurance Department issued Bulletin INS-15-014-AB, which explains how the transitional policy rules apply to employers groups with 51 to 100 employees. As a reminder, such groups are currently treated as large groups and are experience rated. Effective Jan. 1, 2016, the definition of small group is expanded to employers with up to 100 employees, meaning that groups with 51 to 100 employees would be changed to a small group policy with modified community rating.
The bulletin provides that a carrier may renew a large group policy for employers with 51 to 100 employees if the policy is in place on Dec. 31, 2015 and no significant changes are made at renewal. Thus, a group with 51 to 100 employees may be able, at the discretion of the carrier, to continue its large group policy and delay the small group rating for plan years starting between Jan. 1, 2016 and Sept. 30, 2016.
With regard to counting employees to determine market size, effective July 1, 2015 New Hampshire adopts the federal counting method with the full-time equivalent employee calculation used for employer mandate purposes. It also applies the employer aggregation rules, which means that employers under common ownership would be counted as a single employer.
Bulletin INS-15-014-AB »