Impact of Tax Reform on Employer-Provided Retirement, Welfare, and Fringe Benefits -
The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts (the “Tax Reform Act”) made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Although there...more
1/8/2018
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Individual Mandate ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
It’s official. The IRS has finally begun the process of collecting penalties under the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) employer shared responsibility provisions, better known as the “employer mandate.” The IRS has started...more
Congress is now back in session and, once again, focus has turned to health care. With all eyes on returning health care reform to the forefront, a flurry of activity has sparked new legislative efforts including the...more
9/19/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Federal Grants ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Medicare ,
Political Parties ,
Repeal ,
Trump Administration
On July 13th, the Senate released the updated version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) of 2017. While the new version makes some significant changes to the original Senate proposal, the major components of the...more
After weeks of secrecy, the Senate has released a discussion draft of legislation that is the counterpart of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) previously passed by the House. The Senate legislation, entitled the Better Care...more
6/28/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Block Grants ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Congressional Budget Office ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Dependents ,
Essential Health Benefits ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Healthcare Reform ,
High Risk Pools ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Medicare ,
Penalties ,
Planned Parenthood ,
Political Parties ,
Preexisting Conditions ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
Tax Benefits ,
Trump Administration ,
Waivers
On Monday, two House committees with oversight over health care and taxation, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, released draft reconciliation bills designed to repeal and alter significant portions of the Patient...more
3/9/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Individual Mandate ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Planned Parenthood ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
State Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Tax Penalties
In December 2016, the Department of Labor issued final regulations under ERISA governing claims procedures for group disability plans, which will become effective January 1, 2018. Generally, these regulations were drafted to...more
3/8/2017
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Claim Procedures ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Impartiality ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Rescission
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a new template for the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) last year. As background, the Affordable Care Act requires health plans and health insurers to annually distribute SBCs...more
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that was enacted to ensure protection of individuals’ protected health information (PHI). The Standards for Privacy of Individually...more
On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which allows small employers to maintain health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) for the purpose of reimbursing employees for the cost of...more
The IRS has once again extended the deadline for furnishing to employees the applicable tax forms required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and will continue to provide employers with penalty relief if they make good-faith...more
The Affordable Care Act requires “applicable large employers” (generally, employers with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time employee equivalents) to provide individual statements to their full-time employees and to...more