ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
#WorkforceWednesday: Employee and Health Benefits One Year After Dobbs - Employment Law This Week®
The Burr Broadcast April 2023 - The Official End of COVID-19 Emergencies
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 138: Mason Ellerbe, Lead Executive for High Value Health, OneDigital
Employment Law Now VI-121 - Top 5 Fall Things You Need To Know
Dobbs on Demand: Approaching Benefits in the New Legal Environment
How the Dobbs Supreme Court Decision Affects Employee Benefits
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Health Plan Transparency Requirements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Group Health Plan Service Provider Compensation Disclosure Requirements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - 2023 Benefits Forecast with Mercer
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Prescription Drug and Health Coverage Reporting Requirements
#WorkforceWednesday: OSHA ETS in Review, Texas Vaccine Mandate Ban, Health Premium Incentives - Employment Law This Week®
Navigating the Nuances of the COBRA Subsidy Under the American Rescue Plan Act
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Can Employers Impose a Health Insurance Surcharge on Plan Participants Not Vaccinated for COVID-19?
AGG Talks: Solving Employers’ Problems - Health Plan Premium Surcharges for the Unvaccinated: Are They Legal and How Do They Work?
Podcast: What's New for Insurers in Mental Health Parity Compliance - Diagnosing Health Care
Leading in a Lonely World Podcast: Meet Jamie Pagliaro, a Leader Who has Made His “Passion” for Helping Others His Life’s Work
COBRA Deadlines and Proofs of Mailing in Carter v. Southwest Airlines Co. Board of Trustees
Midyear Premium Increases and Cafeteria Plan Rules
Even the most well-managed employee benefit plans may have certain compliance blind spots. From outdated documentation to missed filing deadlines, we have highlighted a few areas below where we often see gaps....more
At A Glance - In recent months, there have been a number of important developments in the United States relating to health and welfare plans. This list of hot topics identifies the key areas for employers and plan sponsors to...more
On Labor Day fifty years ago, September 2, 1974, President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) into law. It is a combination of tax and labor law incorporating trust law like fiduciary...more
In the past two weeks, we have presented a few items that plan sponsors can review in hopes of curbing common employee benefits and executive compensation errors. This week in our Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
ERISA requires plan sponsors to distribute SPDs to inform participants of their benefits, rights, and obligations under the plan and describe how the plan operates. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations (available here)...more
Today marks the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency that first began on March 13, 2020. The end of the public health emergency has a wide range of implications for employer sponsored benefit plans. This alert...more
The end of an era looms for employee benefits plans, as the Biden administration has announced the end of both the Public Health Emergency and the National Emergency periods on May 11, 2023. The two emergency periods were...more
Employers should prepare now for impacts to their employee benefit plans when the COVID-19 Outbreak Period expires. On March 29, 2023, in anticipation of the ends of both the National Emergency and Public Health Emergency,...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
What does the April 10, 2023, early end of the COVID-19 National Emergency declaration mean for employer health plans? Well, nothing, actually....more
On April 10, 2023, the President signed H.J.Res. 7, which ended the COVID-19 national emergency on April 10, 2023, approximately one month earlier than anticipated. However, prior to the passage of H.J. Res. 7, the DOL and...more
On January 30, 2023, President Biden issued a Statement of Administration Policy announcing his intent to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, 2023. However, on April 10, 2023, the President...more
Welcome to Spring! We hope the new season finds you ready for the upcoming benefits changes that 2023 has in store. ...more
With the COVID-19 public health emergency and the presidential declaration of national emergency intended to end on May 11 and the US government recently issuing guidance on unwinding these emergency declarations, this...more
The Biden administration has announced its intention 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)....more
With the pandemic winding down, deadlines for employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) will be resuming. Two different emergencies affect employer-sponsored group health plans:...more
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its highly anticipated decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392. The Dobbs decision expressly overrules the two key precedents that...more
The constitutional right to abortion has been eliminated. The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, undoing a federal standard that had legalized abortions since 1973. ...more
Permissible Flexibility under Code Section 125 Pursuant to IRS Notice 2021-15 Notice 2021-15 offered plan sponsors the flexibility to adopt any of the following options despite the longstanding rules under Section 125 of the...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued guidance to clarify the interaction between COVID-19 disaster relief and premiums due for continuation coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) mandates that group health plans that are subject to COBRA must provide coverage to certain assistance eligible individuals (AEI) at no cost for periods of coverage between April 1,...more
As we mentioned in our May 23, 2021, article, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides a 100 percent premium subsidy for continuation coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently released a Notice to further explain its position on certain issues related to the COBRA premium assistance and corresponding tax credits available under the American Rescue Plan Act of...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the ARP, enacted on March 11, 2021) provides a temporary 100% COBRA premium subsidy to any assistance eligible individual (AEI) who loses employer-sponsored group health coverage due to a...more
The American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) has been the law of the land since March 11, 2021. Even so, many questions remained unanswered with respect to ARPA’s impact on group health plans. To resolve some of the lingering...more