DE Under 3: New WIR Reporter; Nomination for New EEOC General Counsel; ODEP “Disability & the Digital Divide” Report
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Missing Plan Participants
The Biden administration unveiled its FFY 2025 budget, which calls for $7.3 trillion in spending. In the proposed budget, Biden maintains his pledge to focus on expanding and transforming the nation’s mental health system. He...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently entered into a settlement agreement with a New York-based insurer and third-party administrator (“Company”) of employer group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and insurers to cover treatments for mental health and substance use disorders in a manner that is equitable to the...more
On July 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury released their annual report to the U.S. Congress regarding group health...more
Plan sponsors, insurers, and third-party administrators should pay close attention to the new guidance to facilitate health plan compliance with complex nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses requirements....more
The Biden administration previously announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our series introduction for more information). On April...more
On January 30, President Biden announced his intention to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and Public Health Emergency (PHE) effective May 11, 2023. Both emergency declarations resulted in various forms of relief for...more
The February Monthly Minute examines the DOL’s recent focus on mental health parity compliance, the Hughes vs. Northwestern University retirement plan fee litigation, and the latest COVID-19 testing coverage guidance....more
On August 12, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a $15.6 million settlement related to violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). In the news release announcing the...more
As described in our March 15, 2021 update, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Act”) created a temporary, 100% subsidy for assistance-eligible individuals’ premium payments for continuation health care coverage under...more
Less than a month after the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law, new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) guidance and model forms are clearing up a number of employer concerns about the 100 percent COBRA...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 in the nick of time on February 26, 2021. EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 was released...more
In this legal update, our employee benefits attorneys cover three recent health and welfare plan developments....more
As we described in our LawFlash from last spring, the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (collectively, the Agencies) issued EBSA Notice 2020-01...more
Providing sweeping relief to employee benefit plan sponsors, participants and beneficiaries impacted by the COVID-19 emergency, the Employee Benefits Security Administration joined with the IRS to extend deadlines in order to...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) prohibits health insurance policies and group health plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits from imposing limitations on MH/SUD...more
On October 23, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of the Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) jointly issued answers to frequently asked questions regarding the...more
The Department of the Treasury, DOL, and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued final rules regarding coverage of certain preventive services required to be provided under ACA without cost sharing by...more
In a set of rules published last week, the government finalized a July 2010 interim final rule (“IFR”) related to coverage of certain preventive services and an August 2014 IFR regarding the definition of an eligible...more
As we do every month, we have provided below a comprehensive alert that highlights the most important employee benefits legal developments during May of 2015. We hope that our “Monthly Benefits Updates” continue to be a...more
On February 24, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly released...more