PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Health Plan Transparency Requirements
Podcast: What's New for Insurers in Mental Health Parity Compliance - Diagnosing Health Care
Compliance Perspective: What's New in Healthcare Privacy
Preparing Employers and Employees for 2021 Benefit Plans Decisions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Employee Benefits Considerations When Conducting Furloughs and Layoffs
COVID-19-Related Guidance Allows Employees to Revise 2020 Health Insurance Elections
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
Employers: Benefits Considerations Post-Pandemic [More with McGlinchey Ep. 3]
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
The Biggest Obstacle to Value-Based Care
Family building benefits continue to be top of mind as employers and plan sponsors implement new benefit programs to support family building journeys for their employees. At the same time, there have been a few recent...more
Last week, former Wells Fargo employees filed a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo and its health plan fiduciaries alleging that Wells Fargo’s self-funded health plan violated ERISA by paying its pharmacy benefits...more
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) marked a significant milestone in Congress’s ongoing efforts to address escalating health care costs. While the IRA aims to rein in government spending on Medicare and...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued final regulations on the nondiscrimination rules set forth in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The new rules apply to certain group health plans, as...more
On May 31, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals published an opinion in Bristol SL Holdings, Inc. v. Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, which has significant implications for the healthcare industry, most notably by...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced (see Revenue Procedure 2024-25) cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and...more
The Biden administration has issued two sets of final regulations that overturn rules adopted during the Trump administration pertaining to association health plans and short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI). The...more
In the United States, mental health (“MH”) and substance use disorder (“SUD”) (collectively “MH/SUD”) have continued to represent areas of intense concern. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the MH struggles of essential workers...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires health plans and insurers to offer mental health coverage in “parity” with a plan’s medical or surgical coverage. In 2024, as the post-COVID era brings a...more
Employers and plan sponsors are facing growing – and often conflicting – pressures related to the coverage of gender-affirming care. Join McDermott lawyers Sarah G. Raaii and Alden J. Bianchi for a webinar to review recent...more
On November 15, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule titled Contract Year 2025 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit...more
As the year is quickly coming to an end, it is critical that plan sponsors set time aside to review their operational and administrative practices throughout the year. As appropriate, operational errors may be corrected and...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires health plans to provide mental health benefits, including coverage for substance use disorders (SUDs), that are in “parity” with medical and surgical...more
Certain provisions of the Transparency in Coverage Final Regulations and the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (“CAA”) require group health plans and/or their vendors to report information to federal agencies. On December...more
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay of enforcement of the district court decision in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra. Readers of our earlier blog (found here) will...more
A federal judge has struck down a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandating group health plans and insurers to cover a long list of preventive services without cost-sharing from participants. The March 30 decision...more
When the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) was enacted on December 27, 2020, it included a provision that prohibits group health plans and health insurance carriers from entering into certain agreements that,...more
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans now cover about half of Medicare beneficiaries, and with that enrollment growth has come increased scrutiny from federal and state regulators. As federal regulators complete a busy season of...more
The Biden administration recently announced its intention to end the COVID-19 National Emergency and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency effective May 11, 2023. These emergency declarations have been in place for nearly...more
Summary - The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury have issued guidance on how health plans and insurers may attest to their compliance with the anti-gag rules of the Consolidated...more
In a new set of Frequently Asked Questions, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury provide significant relief to health plan sponsors and insurers seeking to report on expenditures for...more
Over the past 50+ years, there has been enormous progress in understanding the mechanisms that cause blood cancer. As a result, new and groundbreaking treatments have led to significantly improved blood cancer survival rates....more
The IRS has released Notice 2022-59, which sets the applicable PCORI fee for plan years ending between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023 at $3.00 per covered life....more
Air ambulance services often result in large, unanticipated medical bills for patients. A study by the Government Accountability Office found that in 2017, 69% of air ambulance transports provided to individuals covered by...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires health plans to provide equal levels of coverage for mental health conditions and substance use disorders (SUD) as for physical illnesses. Understanding and...more