Cutting Costs With Employee Benefit Plans (Part 3 of 5) – Medical Benefit Costs
Correcting Health Savings Account Contribution Errors
I-22- The Benefits of Benefits: A Roundtable Discussion on Trending Benefits Issues for 2018
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 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released an Issue Spotlight highlighting the costs and fees associated with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). While acknowledging that HSAs offer tax advantages that can...more
A recent string of lawsuits, regulatory guidance, and market trends have dramatically impacted the types of services that enjoy first dollar coverage under high deductible health plan (HDHP) and health savings account (HSA)...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In light of the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency and Public Health Emergency, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has announced the end of prior COVID-19-related special rules for health plan...more
On May 17, 2023, the IRS announced the Health Savings Account limits for 2024. With respect to contribution limits, the limits are higher than the ones for 2023 and the required deductible and out-of-pocket maximums have...more
The Biden Administration announced on Jan. 30, 2023, its intent to end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Fortunately, the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) extends certain key telehealth...more
Recently Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (“2023 CAA”). Among other things, the 2023 CAA extends, for a second time, the telehealth relief provided under the CARES Act. The CARES Act permitted high...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 2023) holds some welcome news for employers that offer a high deductible health plan (HDHP) option paired with a health savings account (HSA). Thanks to the CAA 2023, these...more
...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (“2022 CAA”), which was recently signed into law, reinstates the exception that allows high deductible health plans (“HDHPs”) to waive all or a portion of participant cost-sharing...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced the dollar limitations for health saving accounts (HSAs), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), and excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements (EBHRAs), beginning Jan....more
In addition to serving as a viable option to reduce health care costs, a Health Savings Account (HSA) can positively affect your estate plan because its funds grow on a tax-deferred basis. An HSA is similar to a traditional...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts and high-deductible health plans for 2021. Some of the dollar limits currently in effect...more
COVID-19 (commonly referred to as the coronavirus) has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The disease is highly contagious, and has recently resulted in unprecedented measures being taken by both...more
HDHP and HSA participants - The IRS has expanded prior guidance to allow health plans to pay first-dollar costs for testing and treatment of COVID-19 without jeopardizing the participant’s HSA eligibility. ...more
Employers and health plans that want to provide some relief for participants during the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19) may waive deductibles for COVID-19 testing without...more
On March 11, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-15, allowing health savings account (HSA)-compatible high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to provide coverage for testing and treatment of COVID-19-related services without an...more
Employers across the country are currently considering what actions to put in place in light of the potential spread of COVID-19 (the coronavirus). Many employers offer their employees high-deductible health plans that can...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice that allows individuals to participate in a health savings account (HSA) while participating in a high deductible health plan (HDHP) that provides coverage for both the...more
Benefit plan sponsors are responding to participant questions about the coronavirus/COVID-19. In particular, employers’ HR departments are fielding questions about whether their health plan will pay for any necessary testing...more
In response to the unprecedented public health emergency posed by the 2019 novel coronavirus (known as “COVID-19”), the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2020-15 (“Notice”) to allow a high-deductible health plan...more
On March 12, 2020, the IRS issued notice 2020-15, providing that a health plan will not fail to be a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) merely because it provides testing for and treatment of COVID-19 without a deductible or...more
Health Plan Coverage of COVID-19. Colorado has become the latest state to instruct insured health plans to cover COVID-19 testing and benefits (such as office visits) at no cost to the member...more
With the news about the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) in the U.S. and the world rapidly evolving, group health plan sponsors need to address how the plan will provide virus-related benefits. ...more
In response to the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the Internal Revenue Service advised that a health plan that otherwise satisfies the requirements to be a High Deductible Health Plan (“HDHP”) under section 223(c)(2)(A) will not...more