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
A lawsuit filed on February 5, 2024, against Johnson and Johnson and its health plan fiduciaries is a good reminder that the fiduciary duties that exist under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) do not...more
In late December 2023, the Internal Revenue Service provided additional guidance in the form of questions and answers (“Q&As”) with respect to certain key qualified retirement plan provisions of the Consolidated...more
As employers look back at 2023 and ahead to 2024, there are so many compliance-related items to consider relating to their employee benefit plans. The rules employers are supposed to be complying with keep growing and...more
12/19/2023
/ Attestation Deadlines ,
Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Contribution Limits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Gag Clauses ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Retirement ,
Student Loans
While many were out last week finishing up their last-minute Christmas shopping, Congress passed the highly-anticipated retirement plan legislation known as “SECURE Act 2.0” and the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human...more
On Friday, June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey. In doing so, the Court held...more
6/30/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Assistance Programs ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v Casey ,
Preemption ,
Roe v Wade ,
SCOTUS ,
Self-Funded Health Plans
The No Surprises Act (NSA) became effective on January 1, 2022. It prohibits surprise billing in certain circumstances. Surprise billing occurs when a patient receives an unexpected bill, often for a large amount, from an...more
This is a supplement to our January 16, 2022 article titled “Free over-the-counter COVID test (if you can find them)” on the new requirements related to health plans providing free over-the-counter COVID tests.
Last...more
Last week, on January 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, unanimously holding that retirement plan fiduciaries have a duty to continuously monitor retirement...more
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was enacted on March 18, 2020, and generally requires group health plans to provide benefits for certain items and services related to COVID-19 testing when those items or...more
Ten years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that required retirement plan service providers to disclose information about...more
Late last Friday afternoon, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury issued some new frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding implementation of the transparency in coverage (TIC) regulations...more
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced new guidance for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries, recordkeepers and plan participants on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity, including tips on how to protect retirement...more
Just yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a series of frequently asked questions regarding the COBRA provisions of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARP) — along with four model COBRA notices. The FAQs clarify a...more
Late last week, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which makes COBRA continuation coverage free for certain qualifying individuals and their families from April 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021....more
You might recall that in December 2020, Congress passed the year-end funding bill known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), which contained provisions that provide significant flexibility for flexible spending...more
On December 6, 2020, we posted an article titled “RADICAL new transparency rules likely apply to your health plan in one year.” The regulations are a little more than 150 PDF pages long. The following is intended to provide a...more
New rules published last month likely require your employer health plan to phase-in certain disclosures over a three-year period beginning in one year:
1. January 1, 2022 (three files must be disclosed): For plan years...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury (the Departments) issued new final regulations that will impose price transparency requirements on...more
If you only read this first paragraph, that is okay. One of the most common issues we face with DOL investigations of employer health plans involves mental health parity compliance. For those of you who sponsor a qualified...more
Monday, March 27th, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act is intended to provide relief to individuals and businesses that are impacted by the...more
Last Friday night, President Trump signed into law a year-end $1.4 trillion spending bill that will fund the government through September 30, 2020. Included in the bill were a number of provisions that impact...more
12/24/2019
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Excise Tax ,
Federal Budget ,
Health Insurance ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Repeal ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Planning ,
Trump Administration
Your employees likely have more student loan debt than any other kind of consumer debt, except mortgage debt. If you run an internet search using “amount of student loan debt,” you will quickly learn that Americans owe more...more
Last week the IRS announced that 401(k) plans and certain similar employer-sponsored retirement plans can make loans and hardship distributions to help victims of Hurricane Harvey....more
9/7/2017
/ 401k ,
Donations ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
IRS ,
Loans ,
Natural Disasters ,
Paid Leave ,
Retirement Plan ,
Unpaid Leave
In the last few weeks we have talked to hundreds of employers about the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which was proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 6. Many of you have asked about the AHCA, how it might...more