The Treasury Department and the IRS last week issued long-awaited final rules implementing the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility (a/k/a “pay-or-play”) rules. Originally slated to take effect beginning...more
A January 18th New York Times article (Rules for Equal Coverage by Employers Remain Elusive Under Health Law) reported on the progress, or lack thereof, of the adoption of group health plan non-discrimination regulations...more
Breaking with long standing tradition—i.e., issuing important rules on a Friday before a holiday weekend, or (failing that) any Friday (hence the reference to Week 45½ in this post)—the Treasury Department and the IRS today...more
The Affordable Care Act establishes three new, high-level, reporting requirements:
Code § 6051(a)(14) -
Employers must report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan on an employee’s...more
A handful of recent guidance items that the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury have issued make some important changes related to the regulation of “excepted benefits.” These changes are driven in...more
A recent Federal Court decision turned back a potentially debilitating challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s rules governing premium subsidies. The decision, Halbig v. Sebelius, has consequences for large employers, i.e.,...more
So where are they?
Final regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act’s rules governing shared responsibility of employers were widely expected to have “dropped” before the beginning, or perhaps during the first...more
The Affordable Care Act imposes a series of interrelated requirements on individuals, employers and providers. Individuals must maintain coverage or face the prospect of a tax penalty; carriers must offer and renew coverage....more
(Note: This is the first installment of a series of entries that Alden will be posting each week for the next 51 weeks as he counts down to the January 1st, 2015 ACA pay-or-play deadline).
...more
The IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (or “EPCRS”) permits corrections, both voluntary and on audit, of a broad range of “qualification failures” — i.e., violations of sometimes arcane and complex tax rules —...more
The Obama administration's July 2013 announcement, delaying enforcement of the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act by one year, has affected not only when employees must be offered health insurance coverage but...more
On November 13, 2013, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) issued final regulations under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act...more
In addition to imposing substantive requirements on health insurance issuers in the group and individual markets and employer-sponsored group health plans, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Act) imposes three...more
On September 13, 2013, the Department of Labor and the Treasury Department/IRS (the “Departments”) issued coordinated guidance on a handful of items relating to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (the “Act”),...more
In recently issued Revenue Ruling 2013-17, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that all legal same-sex marriages will be recognized for federal tax purposes. The revenue ruling was accompanied...more
A little more than a month ago, the Obama administration announced a one-year delay in the enforcement of the Employer “pay-or-play” rules under the Affordable Care Act—a/k/a “ObamaCare.” Now, a handful of recent news...more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”) amends the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to require employers of all sizes to provide their employees a notice of the availability of coverage through public...more
8/21/2013
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Mandates ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Healthcare ,
Marketplace Notice ,
Notice Requirements
Introduction -
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit increases the risk that a private equity fund could be liable for its portfolio company’s unfunded pension liabilities. Additionally,...more
Established as a part of the comprehensive 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law, the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector (a/k/a the “Connector”) served as a model for the American Health Benefit Exchanges that are a...more
On July 9, less than a week after the Obama administration announced a one-year delay in the enforcement of the employer shared responsibility (aka “pay-or-play”) rules,1 the IRS has issued guidance making the move official....more
In a move that took many by surprise, the Obama Administration on July 3 announced a one-year delay (to January 1, 2015 from January 1, 2014) in the enforcement of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and...more
In a surprise announcement posted Tuesday to the White’s House website, the Obama Administration announced a one-year delay (to January 1, 2105) in the enforcement of the employer shared responsibility rules enacted into law...more
The regulation of marriage was historically presumed to be the exclusive domain of the states. Since 1996, however, the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (“DOMA”) changed this presumption in two important respects...more
7/5/2013
/ Civil Unions ,
COBRA ,
Compliance ,
DOMA ,
Domestic Partnership ,
Due Process ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Protection ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
US v Windsor
A May 10 Wall Street Journal article, “Employers Eye Bare-Bones Health Plans Under New Law” (see the associated video on WSJ Live), highlighted a compliance strategy to minimize employer exposure for assessable payments under...more
The Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules will require large employers (50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees) to make an offer of minimum essential coverage to at least 95% of their...more