The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) mandates that group health plans and health insurance issuers that offer mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits must provide such benefits...more
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury recently issued FAQs About Affordable Care Act Implementation Part 53 (FAQ), which provides additional guidance for non-grandfathered group health plans and...more
4/21/2022
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
Safe Harbors ,
Transparency ,
U.S. Treasury
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-02 to further delay enforcement of Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (PTE 2020-02), which sets forth several requirements that financial...more
10/28/2021
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
IRA Rollovers ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, and the Office of Personnel Management have issued "Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part I," an interim final rule to implement the No...more
7/9/2021
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
New Rules ,
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ,
Out of Network Provider ,
Physicians ,
Surprise Medical Bills ,
U.S. Treasury
Group health plans and insurers have been required since 2008 to ensure that any “nonquantitative treatment limitations” (NQTLs) imposed on mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are comparable and no more...more
5/19/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
IRS ,
Mental Health ,
Noncompliance ,
NQTLs ,
State Legislatures ,
State Regulators ,
Substance Abuse
In EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a critical interpretation of prior guidance that extended certain deadlines for employee benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries due to...more
In EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a critical interpretation of prior guidance that extended certain deadlines for employee benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries due to...more
In response to ongoing pleas for guidance, the Department of Labor (DOL) has published an informal outline expressing its views on how retirement plan administrators should be addressing missing or unresponsive participants....more
The recently enacted COVID-19 Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, both of which are part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” includes the following...more
1/4/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule to revise its existing rule regarding financial factors in selecting plan investments. We discussed the proposed rule in an earlier article, and this article provides a...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 required, for the first time, that administrators of defined contribution plans (such as 401(k) plans) provide participants with disclosures...more
The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury have issued a proposed rule for grandfathered group health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rule provides greater...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice of a proposed class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued proposed regulations to revise the DOL's existing investment duties regulation regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments (sometimes referred to as “socially...more
The Department of Labor (DOL), joined and coordinated in part by the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Health and Human Services, has released several documents providing deadline extensions...more
The President recently signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or “CARES Act.” The CARES Act is primarily a stimulus package that addresses the current coronavirus crisis, and it includes...more
Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019” (H.R. 1994) by a vote of 417-3. The bill makes numerous changes affecting...more
5/29/2019
/ 529 Plans ,
Annual Reports ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Form 5500 ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Tax Returns
Last year, the President issued an Executive Order directing the Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue regulations to expand access to association health plans (AHPs). Earlier this year, the DOL issued final...more
10/16/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Orders ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Insurance Industry ,
Public Health Insurance Marketplace ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration
On June 21, 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate vacating the controversial fiduciary rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in 2016. The mandate follows the court’s opinion issued on March 15,...more
6/27/2018
/ Appeals ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Judicial Mandates ,
Retirement Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Vacated
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued final regulations and FAQs on association health plans (AHPs). The regulations broaden the definition of an “employer” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an FAQ addressing the inclusion of information about the Health Insurance Exchanges (Marketplace) in COBRA notices. The guidance could be very helpful for employers in directing...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently settled a case involving an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that provides guidance but also a warning for trustees and employers contemplating ESOP transactions that later go awry....more