On August 21, 2021, Illinois enacted the Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (the “CCDA”) requiring that Illinois employers provide a disclosure to employees which comparing the employer’s group health plan compares with the...more
On August 27, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed the Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (the Act), which became effective immediately. The Act requires Illinois employers (both private and governmental) to disclose to all new hires...more
On July 17, 2020, a panel majority of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a rule issued by the Department of Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the...more
As federal and state governments respond to COVID-19, employers and plan fiduciaries must also address the evolving issues arising under employer-sponsored health plans. The specific considerations covered in this update are...more
High-deductible health plans may now cover testing and treatment for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on a first-dollar basis without risking making participants ineligible to participate in health savings accounts (HSAs)....more
A new federal rule gives small employers and the self-employed an additional avenue for obtaining group health coverage. The final rule, released by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) June 19 and published June 21,...more
The chart below compares key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). This chart is current as of July 13, 2017, and as of that date,...more
The U.S. Senate Republicans on July 13, 2017, released an updated discussion draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA), its bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As we have outlined in a...more
U.S. Senate Republicans on June 22, 2017, released a discussion draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA), its bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The BCRA follows on the heels of the...more
ABSTRACT - Although the American Health Care Act, as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, mainly affects the individual and small group health insurance markets, it has implications for large employers. The repeal of...more
On May 24, 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (“JCT”) released a cost estimate for H.R. 1628, known as the American Health Care Act of 2017 (the “AHCA”). The CBO and...more
On May 4, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by a vote of 217 to 213 (with 20 Republicans voting against the bill), sending the AHCA to the Senate. As we have reported in...more
Holland & Knight originally issued this alert in March 2017 regarding the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as it stood on that date. This client alert provides an update on the AHCA as passed by the U.S. House of...more
Newly proposed regulations address the application of the Affordable Care Act to expatriate health plans (whether insured or self-insured), travel insurance and certain other excepted benefits, effective for plan years...more
Final rules have been issued regarding grandfathered plans, pre-existing conditions, rescissions, dollar limits, claims and appeals procedures, and patient protections. These rules, effective on the first day of the plan year...more
...So, why did HHS need over five years to propose the set of rules published September 8? Here are a few highlights. For brevity’s sake, we omit foreign language service requirements, disability accommodation, compliance...more
As employers and plans prepare for 2016 open enrollment, they must be sure to address in their benefit design and with their third party vendors the new embedded out-of-pocket maximum limitations on individuals that were...more
On January 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States resolved a long-standing dispute between the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the remainder of the federal judiciary in a case concerning the extent to which...more
In M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned three decades of precedent by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, unanimously ruling that, when no specific provision in a...more
The Supreme Court has unanimously vacated a Sixth Circuit ruling that a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) vested retirees with lifetime medical benefits. M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, No. 13-1010, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 759...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a 2013 Sixth Circuit decision that could alter the way collective bargaining agreement provisions covering retiree health benefits are interpreted. In Taketts v. M&G Polymers, the...more
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that will affect virtually all employers across the country. In United States v. Windsor, the Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Section 3 of the federal Defense of...more
A key policy goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”) is the expansion of health insurance coverage to all Americans. The concepts of “minimum value” and its correlate “actuarial value” speak to the...more
Beginning in 2014, the employer shared responsibility mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires applicable large employers (those employing on average at least 50 full-time equivalent employees on...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Essential Health Benefits Final Rule and actuarial value regulations offer few surprises and much needed certainty to enable group health plans and health insurance...more