Travis Software Official Blog

As Travis welcomes the new year 2012, we wanted to take a moment to briefly discuss the landmark events that occurred during 2011 and let you know of the exciting new things that are planned for 2012!

We hope that each of you are off to a great start in 2012 and are pleased to have another year of annual enrollment period behind you!

Travis had an “interesting” 2011. Organizationally, the most visible change was that Alan Williams, Travis’ Founder, stepped back from the business so that Lauren Williams, his daughter, could take over the day-to-day operations of the company. Alan is certainly still involved in the company, but he is just spending more time away from the office.

ObamaCare changed the future landscape of healthcare, but one change that is currently in effect is that a group health plan or health insurance issuer that offers group health insurance coverage must make dependent coverage of children available until a child’s attainment of 26 years of age. Specifically, for plan years beginning on and after January 1, 2011, a group health plan must provide health coverage for employees’ children until the child turns 26.

In 2010, the IRS issued Temporary Regulations regarding the coverage requirement. Travis Software usually does not make changes based upon temporary regulations, however, we received customer suggestions to incorporate this new change and felt it appropriate considering all of the attention ObamaCare is getting.

Welcome to the first Tuesday Tips blog of 2012! This edition of Tuesday Tips outlines the process for correcting a Site User security role assignment in WebCOBRA On Demand.

The system is designed for Site Users to have just one security role assignment. In certain instances the system permits the assignment of multiple security roles to one Site User, but this is unnecessary when the “Supervisory Administrator” security role is selected.

All of us at Travis hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a great New Year! As we do each year at this time, we want to give you the days in 2012 when Travis’ offices will be closed for holidays.

Welcome back to Tuesday Tips, December 2011 edition! The holiday season has begun, which means the new year is just around the corner. We here at Travis know that this time of year is especially busy for our TravisFlex system users, and wanted to give you a review of a couple functions in the system. This month’s Tuesday Tips includes instructions for re-exporting claims and re-importing daily settlements that did not export or import. Also, we have included an overview of Year End Processing in TravisFlex.

As the holiday season approaches, we at Travis wanted to send a quick reminder of the days that the Travis office will be closed. With the exception of the holidays listed below, our office will be open as usual and the Travis Support Team will be available from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm, Central Standard Time, at 281-496-3737 and select Option 3.

Tuesday Tips is back with helpful hints for WebCOBRA and TravisCobra! In our Tuesday Tips blog posts, we discuss and give step-by-step instructions for common features or recently introduced functionality in our systems.

November’s Tuesday Tip illustrates how to perform rate changes in both our WebCOBRA and TravisCobra systems. Rate changes are generally performed when an Administrator is notified by a Carrier of new premium rates that begin on the Plan Anniversary Date.

Travis Software is pleased to announce that Lauren M. Williams has been promoted to President of the Company effective October 28, 2011. Lauren will continue to fill the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Company, a role she has held since January of this year.

In her new role as President, Lauren will increasingly be the chief spokesperson for the Company, responsible for managing relationships with customers as well as continuing to maintain the Company’s growth and smooth operation.

WebCOBRA continues to dominate the COBRA administration software market with over 500 administrator and employer organizations using the system! And TravisCobra, the leading Windows-based system for COBRA administration, continues to have several hundred users as well. Why is that? Our customers consistently tell us it’s because both systems are feature-rich, dependable, and because we listen to and accommodate our customers’ suggestions rather than forcing our own beliefs of how COBRA ought to be done and how the systems ought to work. Both systems are constantly updated to make them extremely flexible. With both systems, YOU get to choose from an array of options allowing you to administer COBRA the way you see fit.

Hello again! Welcome to the October edition of “Tuesday Tips” where we discuss and demonstrate a common feature or a recently introduced functionality of the system on the first Tuesday of the month.

October’s Tip explains how to add the Social Security Disability Extension period to a Participant’s record in both our WebCOBRA and TravisCobra systems.

In May 2011, Travis blogged about a new “Request for Information” by the Department of Labor regarding the possible expansion of electronic disclosure by employee benefit plans, including COBRA disclosures.

On September 13, 2011, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) followed through on the Request and issued interim e-disclosure policies for participant-fee disclosure regulations. While this policy does not directly affect COBRA administration, it may be a sign for what might be coming.

Welcome to “Tuesday Tips,” where we discuss and demonstrate a common feature or a recently introduced functionality to one of our systems on the first Tuesday of each month. September’s Tip discusses how to modify a QB’s benefit plan that was incorrectly dropped and instructions for the process in both WebCOBRA and TravisCobra.

At certain times, a benefit plan assignment can be dropped from a Qualified Beneficiary (QB) record. For example, during open enrollment, a QB might decide he or she wants to switch to another benefit plan. In such a situation, the user will set a “plan end date” for the QB’s benefit plan assignment. When the time to drop the plan arrives, the plan assignment is dropped from the QB record on that date.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently updated the DOL website to address the expiration of the COBRA continuation coverage assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The update modified the introductory paragraph to address the ARRA subsidy expiration on August 31, 2011 and added a new Question/Answer to the “Frequently Asked Questions” page to discuss situations where the 15-month ARRA subsidy may extend beyond the general expiration date of August 31, 2011.

Travis invented COBRA software in 1986 and continues to be the industry leader for serious COBRA administrators nationwide. We recently welcomed the 501^st administrator actively using our COBRA software, up from 450 at this time in 2010.

We would like to thank each of our customers for your continued, ongoing support. Without you there wouldn’t be a Travis Software, and we remember that every day. Though we serve the entire COBRA administration industry, we work hard to meet or exceed the expectations of each customer and make them feel as though the software was developed to address their specific needs. Our COBRA systems are continuously enhanced based on suggestions from our own customer-base as well as changes to the laws and regulations so that all organizations can enjoy the benefits of industry-suggested and required functionality!

Last month, Travis announced the “Tuesday Tips” blog series that has helpful suggestions and instructions for various functions in either our desktop or web-based systems. A new “Tuesday Tips” blog will be posted the first Tuesday of each month and will discuss and demonstrate a common feature or a recently introduced functionality of the system.

In this second edition of “Tuesday Tips,” we focus on handling secondary qualifying events in WebCOBRA, our web-based system. When the Dependent of a Qualified Beneficiary (QB) experiences a qualifying event of their own (called a “secondary event”) and that person has an existing record in the system, their information can be updated in WebCOBRA to reflect that secondary event, and any applicable correspondence will be generated at that time.