Originally published in February 2025, this updated report provides new material on physician practice management (PPM) arrangements, reference-based pricing arrangements, minimum essential coverage (MEC) and MEC+ plans, and...more
4/23/2025
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
ICHRA ,
Insurance Industry ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Small Business
Small employers seeking to offer robust major medical coverage to employees and their dependents face daunting price and transparency hurdles. Employers with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, so-called “small...more
While a physician practice management (PPM) structure allows for compliance with corporate practice of medicine laws and ease of administration, it often creates inadvertent health plan issues that should be navigated...more
2/24/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Insurance Industry ,
Medicare ,
Physicians ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management
Small employers seeking to offer robust major medical coverage to employees and their dependents face daunting price and transparency hurdles. Employers with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, so-called “small...more
2/17/2025
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Insurance Industry ,
Risk Management ,
Self-Insured Health Plans ,
Small Employers
For calendar-year plans, the 2025 plan year is right around the corner. And even for non-calendar-year plans, January 1, 2025, is a key implementation date for certain plan features. This is the ideal time for plan sponsors...more
12/11/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retirement Plan
On August 19, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2024-63 (the Notice), providing guidance regarding the implementation of Section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0), which permits employers...more
In late December 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2024-2 (the Notice), providing guidance on key provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0). SECURE 2.0, which was passed in December 2022,...more
Employer-sponsored health insurance covers almost 159 million non-elderly US workers and their dependents, and employees and jobseekers alike view group health coverage as the single most important non-cash job-related...more
11/28/2023
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Regulatory Agenda
In December 2022, Congress enacted groundbreaking legislation as part of the SECURE 2.0 Act (SECURE 2.0) codifying an opportunity for employers to provide matching contributions within a tax-qualified retirement plan based on...more
The Biden administration previously announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our series introduction for more information). On April...more
5/17/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Deductibles ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Public Health Emergency ,
U.S. Treasury
The Biden administration originally announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our prior article for more information). Although the...more
5/2/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deductibles ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
HSA ,
Public Health Emergency ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vaccinations
The Biden administration has announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our prior article for more information). In response to the...more
3/22/2023
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
HDHP ,
HSA ,
IRS ,
Medicare ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Relief Measures ,
Telehealth
The Biden administration has announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our prior article for more information). In response to the...more
The Biden administration has announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our prior article for more information). A topic of great...more
On January 30, 2023, the Biden administration announced its intention to make final extensions of both the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) through May 11, 2023, at which point...more
2/24/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
IRS ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Telehealth ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On September 26, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended the amendment deadline for non-governmental qualified retirement plans, plans covered under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and individual...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued needed relief to extend some amendment deadlines for non-governmental qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans, and for individual retirement accounts (IRAs) under the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is strategically working to execute the statutory changes that were outlined by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) of 2019. However, the IRS’s efforts...more
4/12/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
501(c)(3) ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
U.S. Treasury
On May 18, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued much-anticipated Notice 2021-31 (the Notice) regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) premium subsidy provisions of the American Rescue...more
6/3/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Beneficiaries ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Eligibility ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
IRS ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Time Extensions
Two days before the one-year anniversary of the official start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a last-minute notice clarifying its prior guidance that relaxed the deadlines for the Employee...more
3/4/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enrollment ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance