News & Analysis as of

Benefit Plan Sponsors Department of Labor (DOL) Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA)

Lathrop GPM

Call for Additional Regulations for Health Plan Compensation Disclosures

Lathrop GPM on

In an April 15 Executive Order, entitled “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” the Trump Administration has called attention to an ERISA disclosure required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Health and Welfare Plans: Recent Topics in Year-End Compliance

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

As we bid farewell to 2024 and look ahead to the new year, we reflect on the many evolving compliance obligations that health and welfare plan sponsors tackle each year. Although this list is by no means exhaustive, it...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Complying With the ‘Relevant Data’ Requirement Under the Final 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act: A Proposal for...

McDermott Will & Emery on

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) generally requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as copays and deductibles), quantitative treatment...more

Snell & Wilmer

2024 End-of-Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health and Welfare

Snell & Wilmer on

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 SW Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues. Parts 2,...more

Verrill

Final Mental Health Parity Rule Spells Compliance Changes

Verrill on

The long-anticipated final rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was published on September 9, 2024. The MHPAEA prohibits group health plans that provide mental health and substance use...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

SECURE 2.0 Medley – IRS and DOL Guidance for Plan Sponsors on Recent Changes

The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance on various aspects of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, commonly referred to as SECURE 2.0. Below is a summary of key provisions...more

Alston & Bird

Year-End Health Benefits Roundup 2023

Alston & Bird on

It was a lively year for health benefits. Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group unpacks 2023, from the end of the COVID-19 emergencies to the much-anticipated Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

The Time Has Come, A Fact’s A Fact: Consider Adding a Welfare Plan Committee

The time may have come to add a welfare plan committee to your company’s governance of employee benefit plans. New legal obligations and other developments impose fiduciary risks for welfare plans similar to what already...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Proposed Rules Push Mental Health Parity Up Benefit Priority List

Now you know. It could not be any clearer to employers that compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) will be a—maybe the—top health and welfare benefit priority for federal...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

DOL Issues Long Awaited Mental Health Parity Guidance

Plan sponsors, insurers, and third-party administrators should pay close attention to the new guidance to facilitate health plan compliance with complex nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses requirements....more

Verrill

Gag Clauses – New Guidance and Litigation Will Inform Compliance

Verrill on

Certain provisions of the Transparency in Coverage Final Regulations and the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (“CAA”) require group health plans and/or their vendors to report information to federal agencies. On December...more

Verrill

Deciphering First Circuit’s Thirty-page Primer on NQTL Analysis and ERISA Information Requests

Verrill on

The widely publicized 2022 Report to Congress regarding the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“Parity Act”) forewarned greater enforcement efforts by the Department of Labor and highlighted suspected deficiencies...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

What Happens in a Small Town Stays in a Small Town … Until the DOL Doubles Down on Mental Health Parity Compliance

The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Treasury (collectively, the Departments) recently issued their joint report to Congress regarding their Mental Health...more

McAfee & Taft

New health plan disclosure requirements should bring more transparency

McAfee & Taft on

Ten years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that required retirement plan service providers to disclose information about...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Making a List, Checking It Twice: Year-End Guidance on Drug Cost Reporting

Employers and their benefit administrators have more detail and a more convenient way to submit “top 50” lists and other data - but no more time to comply with - daunting prescription drug cost reporting requirements in the...more

Verrill

You Are Here: A Mall Directory for Healthcare Transparency Requirements

Verrill on

The old adage “you can’t get where you’re going unless you know where you are” has never seemed more true than when applied to the current mélange of healthcare transparency guidance. Fortunately, a fading relic from...more

Morgan Lewis

A Survival Guide to DOL Group Health Plan Mental Health Parity Audits

Morgan Lewis on

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 mandates that employers offering medical/surgical and mental health/substance use disorder coverage provide comparative analyses and any supporting documentation demonstrating...more

Snell & Wilmer

Departments Provide Some Relief to Health Plan Sponsors Facing Looming Year-End Deadlines

Snell & Wilmer on

Year-end is always a scramble for health plan sponsors as they go through renewal and open enrollment. This year was looking to be worse than normal given the impending deadlines for complying with the transparency in...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Initial No Surprises Act Regulations Provide Some Clarity for Employer Plans

Plan participants can be hit with surprise medical bills when they receive care from out-of-network providers. Sometimes, this happens when participants do not know that the care they are receiving is from an out-of-network...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Agencies Issue FAQs on Required Comparative Analysis of Nonquantitative Treatment Limitations

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021 had far-reaching effects on employee benefit plans. One of the more onerous changes introduced by the CAA relates to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

DOL to Focus on Red Flags in Mental Health Parity Requests

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will focus on requesting information from employers where there are potential “red flags” of non-compliance with the provisions and rules of the Mental Health Parity...more

Fisher Phillips

Overview Of Employee Benefit Provisions In The Consolidated Appropriations Act

Fisher Phillips on

The Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2021 was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and is an impressive 5,593 pages. According to the Senate Historical Office, the Act is the longest bill ever passed by Congress. Buried...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

ERISA Disclosure Requirements for Service Providers Extended to Group Health Plans

The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”) requires new disclosures for brokers and other consultants providing services to certain group health plans. Under the CAA, “covered service providers”...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Fee Disclosure Rules Will Soon Apply to Group Health Plans

Buried in the year-end Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) is a provision that requires group health plan brokers and consultants to make comprehensive fee disclosures similar to those that apply to retirement plans. As...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Consolidated Appropriations Act Underscores Mental Health Parity Compliance

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, enacted late in 2020, imposes a new requirement on group health plans to ensure compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Unlike many of the...more

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