Recently proposed Department of Labor (Department) regulations governing Association Health Plans (AHPs) would, if made final, permit small employers to be regulated under more favorable, large group rules. The proposed...more
On January 3, 2018, the Department of Labor issued proposed regulations that will make it easier for small employers to band together to form “association health plans” (“AHPs”), thereby providing access to more liberal...more
1/11/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Health Insurance ,
MEWAs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Trump Administration
On October 13th, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing various federal agencies to consider how to achieve three administration health reform objectives: (1) expand access to Association Health Plans (AHPs); (2)...more
10/25/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Orders ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
MEWAs ,
New Guidance ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration
In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has been considering allowing health insurance to be purchased across state lines and expanding access to “Association Health Plans” (AHPs) that could take economic advantage of...more
Mull v. Motion Picture Ind. Health Plan educates employers on the basics of the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) governing plan documents and summary plan descriptions. The lessons are...more
8/22/2017
/ Appeals ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Motion Picture Industry ,
Plan Administrators ,
Plan Documents ,
Subrogation ,
Summary Plan Description
With its “employer mandate”—i.e., the requirement that applicable large employers make an offer of group health coverage to substantially all full-time employees or face the prospect of a penalty—the Affordable Care Act (ACA)...more
6/15/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Captive Insurance Company ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Medical Stop-Loss Rules ,
MEWAs ,
Self-Funded Health Plans
In an effort to make up for a funding shortfall in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, state policymakers have proposed solutions that include a “play-or-pay” option under which employers who fail to offer...more
5/30/2017
/ Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Deficit Reduction ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicaid ,
Pay or Play ,
Preemption ,
State Legislatures
The stunning failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) (which we previously reported on here) has political and policy implications that we cannot forecast. Nor it is it clear to...more
3/28/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Large Employer ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Preemption ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
State Health Plans ,
Trump Administration
The recent Republican election victories appear to ensure that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) days are numbered. But with nearly a fifth of the U.S. economy, and the health care coverage for some tens of millions of U.S....more
12/29/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HSA ,
Medical Stop-Loss Rules ,
Medicare ,
MEWAs ,
Wellness Programs
In April of this year, the Department of Labor issued a suite of rules (i) expanding the class of persons and entities who are fiduciaries for purposes of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code; (ii) providing two new prohibited...more
We reported in a recent post on proposed regulations dealing with, among other things, the treatment of hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance products in the group market. This post takes a closer look at the...more
8/27/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Hospitals ,
Indemnity ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
NAIC ,
Supplemental Insurance
This post continues our examination of the Department of Labor’s suite of final fiduciary and conflict of interest regulations. Our previous posts discussed the newly expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary”; the...more
7/15/2016
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Brokers ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Covered Transactions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Insurance Agents ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Recordkeeping Requirements
This post continues our examination of the Department of Labor’s suite of final fiduciary and conflict of interest regulations. Our prior posts discussed the newly expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary” and the...more
6/13/2016
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Insurance Brokers ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Principal Transaction Exemption ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Retirement Plan ,
Sales Commissions
Last month the U.S. Department of Labor published a suite of final regulations governing the fiduciary status of, and prescribing conflict of interest rules that apply to, persons who provide investment advice to...more
With this post, we begin our substantive explanation of the Department of Labor’s suite of final fiduciary and conflict of interest regulations. For the financial services industry, and for the retirement plans and IRAs,...more
Both the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) contain rules that aggregate trades and businesses under common control. For the most part, these rules are intended to...more
After six years in the hopper, the Department of Labor finally issued final fiduciary regulations late last week that will greatly impact a wide variety of stakeholders. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)...more
Recently, we reported on Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual, in which the Supreme Court invalidated the Vermont all-payer claims data base law. Applying what appeared to us as a straight-forward application of existing ERISA...more
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) made the regulation of employee benefit plans principally a matter of Federal concern. ERISA broadly and generally preempts—or renders inoperative—state laws that...more
This post highlights the significant impact the proposed regulations may have on advisers to mid-sized and small 401(k) retirement plans if adopted. Previously, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series described the...more
In Part 1 of this series, we reported on recently proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor amending the definition of the term “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the...more
In Part 1 of this series, we reported on recently proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor amending the definition of the term “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued proposed regulations that make sweeping changes to the definition of the term “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). To call this proposal...more
In this volume, we have collected the 52 weekly blog posts that comprise the series entitled, The Affordable Care Act—Countdown to Compliance for Employers. The series appeared in the Mintz Levin Employment Matters Blog...more
2/25/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cafeteria Plans ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
Honeywell International ,
HSA ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
Pay or Play ,
Self-Insured Health Plans ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Wellness Programs
Many applicable large employers—i.e., employers that are subject to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules—have a pretty good sense of what these rules are, how they work, and what they plan to...more