held that a governmental employer’s health plan violated Title VII by applying an exclusion for services and supplies associated with gender reassignment surgery. The Court relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v....more
On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed a resolution ending the COVID-19 National Emergency. As we had previously reported, the National Emergency originally was scheduled to end on May 11, 2023 – at the same time as the...more
President Biden recently announced his intention to end the COVID-19 National Emergency and Public Health Emergency effective May 11, 2023. As we previously discussed here, those emergency declarations had significant impacts...more
While many in the U.S. have attempted to resume a sense of normalcy despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for employer-sponsored health plans, special “emergency” pandemic rules and extensions remain in effect. As previously...more
The Transparency in Coverage Final Rules issued in 2020 require most non-grandfathered insurers and group health plan sponsors to make publicly available online three machine-readable data files with health care pricing...more
With each new year, new legal obligations for employers sponsoring group health plans seem to arrive. This article provides a brief overview and reminder of some of the new key requirements for 2022, many of which we have...more
On August 27, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed the Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (the Act), which became effective immediately. The Act requires Illinois employers (both private and governmental) to disclose to all new hires...more
Group health plan sponsors are required to send annual notices (as well as at other particular times) to individuals who are eligible for Medicare Part D that explain whether the health plan’s prescription drug coverage is...more
As we previously reported, the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes a six-month COBRA premium subsidy whereby the federal government subsidizes 100% of the COBRA premium during the period of April...more
4/13/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Relief Measures
By way of background, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder benefits from imposing less...more