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
A growing number of class action lawsuits have been filed against employer-sponsored self-insured group health plans alleging that tobacco cessation wellness programs violate key provisions of the Employee Retirement Income...more
A wave of ERISA class-action lawsuits is challenging tobacco surcharge programs in employer-sponsored health plans across the U.S. These cases center on potential fiduciary breaches, with plaintiffs arguing that surcharges...more
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
Our “health plan hygiene” series has focused on steps that fiduciaries of employer-sponsored group health plans can take to ensure they meet their fiduciary responsibilities. This issue has been brought to the forefront...more
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more
An employer health plan is the latest target of class action litigation seeking redress for the alleged conduct of the plan's pharmacy benefit manager ("PBM")....more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently entered into a settlement agreement with a New York-based insurer and third-party administrator (“Company”) of employer group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement...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
Recent years have seen a barrage of class action lawsuits alleging that group health plan continuation coverage election notices, required under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), are deficient in one...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In light of a recent focus on price transparency, claims data, and hidden fees in the health plan world, employer-sponsored health plans have been bringing their fight to the courtroom in an effort to lower...more
For some group health plan fiduciaries, there could be a storm brewing. Changes to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), buried within the 5,593 pages of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021...more
We continue to see an increase in fiduciary litigation involving employer-sponsored group health plans, particularly litigation involving mental health. A recent New York Federal District Court case, Collins et al. v....more
The February Monthly Minute examines the DOL’s recent focus on mental health parity compliance, the Hughes vs. Northwestern University retirement plan fee litigation, and the latest COVID-19 testing coverage guidance....more
In Technibilt Grp. Ins. Plan & Technibilt, Ltd v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina (W.D. N.C., Feb. 3, 2020), a North Carolina district court held that a plan administrator was an ERISA fiduciary for the purpose of...more
A federal district court denied class certification to health plan participants who claimed the plan promised them lifetime benefits. The court found too many individualized questions about what the plan told each...more
In this edition of our Newsletter, we take a look at a pair of cases that, while unrelated, together remind us of the importance of having clear plan rules in place that reflect the plan sponsor’s intention. The first article...more
In the summer of 2016, over 100 of CIGNA’s self-insured health plan clients were sued with the complaint alleging breach of the defendants’ fiduciary duties under ERISA for engaging in widespread fraudulent behavior involving...more
Editor's Overview - This month’s newsletter features an article on the DOL’s recently published interim final rule that increases penalties for notice and disclosure violations, which generally became effective on...more
In Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., No. 14-181, 2016 U.S. LEXIS 1612 (Mar. 1, 2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that ERISA pre-empts Vermont’s “all-payer database” law – to the extent it is applied to self-insured health...more
Editor's Overview - It has been a little more than one year since the U.S. Supreme Court altered the legal landscape for litigating ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the investment in employer stock...more
In late August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated a lawsuit by a physician association against a third-party plan administrator. The case against UnitedHealth Group and related entities (United) had...more
Welcome to the new, rejuvenated version of the Benefits Litigation Update, which we bring you jointly with the law firm of Epstein Becker Green. Our goal is to provide a concise and, we hope, insightful glimpse into recent...more
In This Issue: - Editor's Overview - View from Proskauer: Are Your Conversations Privileged under ERISA? - Rulings, Filings, and Settlements of Interest ...more