News & Analysis as of

Employee Benefits Benefit Plan Sponsors Health Insurance

Bricker Graydon LLP

Can you Charge Smokers More for Your Health Plan?  

Bricker Graydon LLP on

Several new lawsuits have been filed recently alleging that employers violated HIPAA’s non-discrimination rule by charging higher health insurance premiums to employees who use tobacco products. ...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Navigating the New Normal: Top Employee Benefits Risks for Healthcare Employers in 2025

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As the healthcare industry grapples with the impact of the 2025 Comprehensive Reform Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, offering benefits to its own employees continues to be both a tool for employee retention...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Is My Health Plan Affordable Enough?

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As employers increasingly struggle with rising health plan costs, the IRS has provided some good news. Recently, the IRS announced that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affordability threshold will increase to 9.96% of household...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Employers Continue to Face ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuits, With Mixed Results

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Recently, companies have seen a spate of class action lawsuits challenging the legality of tobacco cessation wellness programs and related tobacco surcharges imposed by their employer-sponsored health benefit plans....more

Warner Norcross + Judd

One Big Beautiful Bill Enacts Important Health and Welfare Plan Updates

Warner Norcross + Judd on

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), a sweeping piece of legislation that includes several provisions impacting employer-sponsored health and welfare benefit plans. The OBBB...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Time to Revisit Your HIPAA Documents After Reproductive Health Privacy Rule Vacated

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In the wake of a recent federal District Court decision, the reproductive health care HIPAA Privacy rules finalized during the Biden Administration have been vacated and plan sponsors should re-evaluate the language included...more

Hall Benefits Law

PBM Contracts Could Expose Plan Sponsors to Fiduciary Liability

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A plan sponsor’s fiduciary duty to be transparent in Pharmacy Benefit Manager contracts safeguards plan participants’ interests and mitigates the risk of litigation, regulatory penalties, and reputational harm, say Hall...more

Alston & Bird

House Reconciliation Bill Expands and Improves Health Savings Accounts and Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements

Alston & Bird on

The House-passed reconciliation bill would significantly modify health savings accounts (HSAs) and individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs). Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group unpacks...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Regulations Suspended: Takeaways for Plan Sponsors and Health Insurance Issuers

In January 2025, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) filed a complaint against the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the departments) seeking to invalidate the 2024 final regulations under...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Parity in Peril? Plan Sponsors Breathe Easier As Trump Administration Hits Pause on Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Final Rule

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On May 15, 2025 the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) announced they will temporarily not enforce their new standards published under the mental health parity Final Rule last...more

Miller Canfield

2026 Inflation-Adjusted Health and Welfare Plan Limits

Miller Canfield on

On May 1, 2025, the IRS released Rev Proc 2025-19 which updated for 2026 the limits applicable to certain health and welfare plans, including the following key limits...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

What If an Employee Doesn’t Tell You They Got Divorced?

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When an employee forgets—or chooses not—to notify you of a divorce, it can cause a ripple effect on your benefit plan administration, particularly with your health plan. Here's what you need to know and do to keep your health...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Excessive Fee Cases: Not Just for Retirement Plans Anymore

Holland & Knight LLP on

A recent wave of cases has attempted to apply the theory of liability for retirement plan excessive fee cases to health plans – specifically, arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers. Though the cases thus far have...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Why You Can’t Kick High Claimants Off Your Health Insurance

Bricker Graydon LLP on

If your health insurance premiums have gone up again, you are not alone.  For that reason, we frequently get questions from clients on whether there is anything they can do to get high claimants off of their plans....more

Bricker Graydon LLP

What, Me PCORI? - Fee Update for Self-Funded Plans

Bricker Graydon LLP on

While the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiative (“PCORI”) fee was updated at the turn of the year, the fee is not actually paid until July.  For those of you that forgot about the fee, this is your reminder to start...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Trump on Transparency: Making America Healthy Again Through Executive Order 14221; How Plan Sponsors Can Respond

Saul Ewing LLP on

One mandate under the PPACA required health care providers, non-grandfathered health insurance issuers and self-insured group health plans to provide consumers with access to information about the cost of services before they...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Special Report - Examining Group Health Coverage Alternatives for Small Employers

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

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

What Will Trump 2.0 Mean for Employee Benefits? - One Place to Look for Clues: Project 2025

Even as high-priority issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), immigration, and Ukraine take center stage in the first months of the new presidential administration, many employers are wondering what the next...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Organizing Your Company’s Health and Welfare Plans Part 2: Creating a Committee Checklist

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In the prior article we discussed the reasoning behind creation of a health and welfare committee to oversee administration of the health and welfare plans. In creating a charter, a plan sponsor will need to decide whether to...more

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

Congress Declines to Extend HDHP First-Dollar Telehealth Coverage Relief

After Congress declined to extend certain relief allowing first-dollar coverage of telehealth services by high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), health plan sponsors may need to make immediate changes to preserve employees’...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Organizing Your Company’s Health and Welfare Plans Part 1: Creating a Framework

Saul Ewing LLP on

Following the flurry of regulatory guidance and informal comments from officials at the Employee Benefits Security Administration, and other agencies of the Federal government, health and welfare plans should be a primary...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Two New Laws Provide Employer Relief for ACA Reporting

On December 23, 2024, President Biden signed two bills intended to ease the burden of reporting under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) for health plan sponsors and health insurance providers....more

Alston & Bird

Changes to Employer Reporting Requirements Under the ACA

Alston & Bird on

Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group highlights changes that will make it less burdensome in 2025 for plan sponsors to file Forms 1095-B and 1095-C under the Affordable Care Act....more

McDermott Will & Schulte

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

McDermott Will & Schulte 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

McDermott Will & Schulte

Employee Benefit Plans: Important Considerations for Year-End and 2025

McDermott Will & Schulte on

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

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