Updates to Statute 1557 that Healthcare Providers Need to Know
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Can Employers Impose a Health Insurance Surcharge on Plan Participants Not Vaccinated for COVID-19?
PODCAST: Wellness Program Compliance Update
Regulations under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and HIPAA will require health plans and health care providers to take action in the coming months to meet new requirements. Health plan sponsors and providers that...more
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn its landmark 1984 Chevron decision, three district courts have struck down provisions in nondiscrimination regulations under the Affordable Care Act that prohibit...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: New regulations effective August 6, 2024 restore and expand scope of civil rights protections under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act....more
In just a few days’ time, recently promulgated federal final rules addressing sex-based nondiscrimination in the administration of health care benefits have created a flurry of healthcare industry activity. The angst arises...more
In this series of articles, we explore the implications of the long-term, part-time employee rules under the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 and the impact those rules have on employers and their workforces. Under the SECURE...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues....more
We wrote in June about employment-related legislation from the 2023 Regular Session of the Connecticut General Assembly, in the immediate aftermath of the conclusion of the session. Now That They Are Finished: Developments...more
Executive Summary: For this entire 2023-2024 Illinois legislative term, we have been closely watching dozens of proposed employment bills make their way through the Illinois Legislature. In the weeks of May 8 and 15, 2023,...more
Employers often provide an array of benefits to employees. One such benefit is a Health Flexible Spending Account (Health FSA). These accounts allow employees to contribute pre-tax dollars to be used for unreimbursed medical...more
Employers that are considering imposing health plan premium surcharges to encourage their employees to get vaccinated have clearer guidance on how to do so without running afoul of the nondiscrimination rules under the Health...more
On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt explores compliance considerations for employers who are considering imposing a health insurance surcharge on plan participants who are not...more
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”) into law. In addition to providing nearly $2 trillion of monetary relief for individuals and business sectors impacted by the...more
Employee benefit plans are subject to numerous laws the restrict, or at least limit, discrimination within the plans. Many benefit plan nondiscrimination rules focus on whether highly and non-highly compensated employees are...more
For years we have been trying to understand how the EEOC regulates wellness programs. Although we still do not have a complete picture, we are getting closer with the EEOC’s new Notices of Proposed Rulemaking on wellness...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proposed two new regulations on January 7 applying the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) to...more
Synopsis: For years, employers have struggled to understand what level of incentives in wellness programs might be considered “voluntary” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ...more
Many of the provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) do not apply to non-electing church plans, but some do, notably those dealing with certain 403(b)(9) plans and...more
Seeking to control healthcare costs, many group health plans have adopted amendments that lower reimbursement rates for the treatment of end-stage renal disease ("ESRD"), which requires long-term dialysis treatment or a...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the SECURE Act), signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019, will have a wide-ranging impact on tax-qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts,...more
In recent years, many defined benefit (“DB”) pension plan sponsors have taken action to limit ongoing coverage and benefit accruals of their DB plans. Over time these plans may have difficulty continuing to satisfy the...more
On Thursday, December 19, the Senate passed two spending bills to fund the government through September 30, 2020, one of which (H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020” or the “Act”) contains the...more
As part of the year-end government funding legislation, on December 20th, President Trump signed into law the Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act” or the “Act”). The Act contains...more
On December 19, 2019, the President signed the SECURE Act. SECURE includes, among other things, provisions that are intended to make retirement plans more accessible, especially to smaller employers, address changing...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expanded the temporary relief for frozen defined benefit plans to include nondiscrimination requirements relating to benefits, rights and features, available for plan years beginning before...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued proposed regulations addressing how individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) can comply with the Employer Shared Responsibility Payments (ESRP) requirements...more