News & Analysis as of

Health and Welfare Plans

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

IRS Releases Health Plan Contribution Limits for 2025 Plan Year

October 25, 2024 Of Counsel The IRS has recently released its inflation-adjusted contribution limits for certain tax-advantaged welfare accounts. Understanding these new limits will help employers communicate during open...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up Newsletter | September 2024 Recap

McDermott Will & Emery on

This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for September 2024. We discuss several enforcement actions pertaining to healthcare fraud, including alleged violations under the False...more

Verrill

Final Mental Health Parity Rule Spells Compliance Changes

Verrill on

The long-anticipated final rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was published on September 9, 2024. The MHPAEA prohibits group health plans that provide mental health and substance use...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

2024 ERISA Welfare Plan Automatic Participant Disclosures Checklist

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

We recognize that many companies sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and will soon be undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist with that process, we have prepared an...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Practical Pointers for Compliance With New MHPAEA Regulations

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services have published final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that prohibit group health plans and health insurers from imposing...more

Fisher Phillips

Open Enrollment Season in the Workplace: 5 Legal Considerations + Employer Takeaways

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Open enrollment season can put a spotlight on the many complex rules applicable to employer-sponsored health and welfare plans. As you announce your benefit offerings for the upcoming plan year and tirelessly work to inform...more

PilieroMazza PLLC

[Webinar] ABCs of the SCA: Critical Path Service Contract Act Training for Government Contractors - October 22nd - 24th, 2:00 pm -...

PilieroMazza PLLC on

For contractors and subcontractors providing certain services to the federal government, compliance with the Service Contract Act (or Service Contract Labor Standards) is required. Unique bidding and performance requirements...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits Lighting Up Common Wellness Program Designs

Ballard Spahr LLP on

A new and unprecedented wave of class action complaints is targeting a common feature of many employer-sponsored benefit plans: tobacco-user surcharges. These surcharges are often part of a wellness program that charges...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Application of New Mental Health Parity Rules to Provider Network Composition and Reimbursement: Perspective and Analysis

Epstein Becker & Green on

On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Labor, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Departments”) released final rules (the “Final Rules”) that implement requirements under the Mental Health...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

DOL Updates Cybersecurity Guidance to Confirm It Applies to All Employee Benefit Plans

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) updated its 2021 cybersecurity guidance to clarify that it applies to all employee benefit plans. The DOL guidance confirms that plan fiduciaries, including health and welfare plan...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

IRS Proposes Amendments for Tribal Welfare Benefits

On September 16, the Internal Revenue Service issued a Notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of public hearing regarding potential amendments to policies that govern which benefits provided by Indian Tribal government...more

Epstein Becker & Green

#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®

Epstein Becker & Green on

This week, we’re interpreting the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) recently updated cybersecurity guidance for all employee benefit plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA): The DOL recently...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Understanding the new Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) regulations: What plan sponsors need to know

On September 9, 2024, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) released final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Health Plan Hygiene Part 3 – Best Practices for TPA Evaluation, Selection, and Contracting

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

A health plan’s fiduciaries are responsible for administering the health plan. Because most employers are not in the business of administering health benefits, they outsource the day-to-day health plan administration to a...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - September 2024

The September Monthly Minute highlights the DOL’s extension of existing cybersecurity guidance to health and welfare plans and also addresses the new HIPAA reproductive health privacy rule....more

McDermott Will & Emery

Landmark Mental Health Parity Final Rule: What Plan Sponsors and Insurers Need to Know

McDermott Will & Emery on

The US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) recently issued much-anticipated final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The newly issued...more

McDermott+

HHS, Labor, and Treasury Finalize Mental Health Parity Rule

McDermott+ on

On September 9, 2024, the US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) finalized a rule titled Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

DOL Updates Guidance on Pension and Health & Welfare Plan Cybersecurity Best Practices

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued 3 documents outlining guidance on cybersecurity practices for benefits plans, which we discussed in a blog post at the time. The DOL recently issued revised versions of the...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Both Sides Now… Must Be Alert to Cybersecurity

by Becky Achten New guidance from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) affirms that both sides—retirement plans and welfare plans—must take steps to secure participant data from cybercrime. In 2021 the...more

McAfee & Taft

DOL confirms cybersecurity guidance applies to health and welfare plans

McAfee & Taft on

On Friday, September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that its cybersecurity guidance applies to all employee benefit plans, including health and welfare plans. In 2021, the DOL issued guidance providing best...more

Verrill

Prepare for Cooler Weather, Annual Enrollment, and 2025

Verrill on

Summer is ending and fall is rapidly approaching. For employee benefit professionals with calendar-year health and welfare benefit plans that means preparing for annual enrollment and year-end compliance requirements. This...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Employers Required to Provide New Health and Welfare Employee Benefit Notice

Foley & Lardner LLP on

There are new regulations requiring employers who offer hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance benefits for plan years starting on or after January 1, 2025, to provide specific notice of the benefit to all...more

McDermott Will & Emery

The Case for the Welfare Plan Fiduciary Committee

Recent lawsuits filed against the group health plans of two large US employers underscore the importance of implementing formal welfare benefit plan governance structures that include fiduciary committees comparable to the...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Anticipating the MHPAEA Final Regulations: A Word About Network Composition

If our trade and industry sources have it right, we could see final regulations implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), as most recently amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021...more

PilieroMazza PLLC

Newly Increased Health and Welfare Rates on SCA Government Contracts

PilieroMazza PLLC on

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has again issued new Service Contract Act (SCA) health and welfare (H&W) rates. In July 2024, WHD increased the prevailing H&W fringe benefits from a rate of $4.98...more

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