PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Health Plan Transparency Requirements
Podcast: What's New for Insurers in Mental Health Parity Compliance - Diagnosing Health Care
Compliance Perspective: What's New in Healthcare Privacy
Preparing Employers and Employees for 2021 Benefit Plans Decisions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Employee Benefits Considerations When Conducting Furloughs and Layoffs
COVID-19-Related Guidance Allows Employees to Revise 2020 Health Insurance Elections
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
Employers: Benefits Considerations Post-Pandemic [More with McGlinchey Ep. 3]
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
The Biggest Obstacle to Value-Based Care
The federal government may continue to enforce the Affordable Care Act’s preventive-care mandates, thanks to the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. In a 6-3 bipartisan opinion written by...more
Congress recently passed the Employer Reporting Improvement Act and the Paperwork Burden Reduction Act (the Acts), which are now awaiting President Biden’s signature. The Acts, among other things, introduce several...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
Family building benefits continue to be top of mind as employers and plan sponsors implement new benefit programs to support family building journeys for their employees. At the same time, there have been a few recent...more
Employers and plan sponsors are facing growing – and often conflicting – pressures related to the coverage of gender-affirming care. Join McDermott lawyers Sarah G. Raaii and Alden J. Bianchi for a webinar to review recent...more
America’s cultural wars may be opening up a new front, and group health plans may be caught in the fray. Since the US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs ended almost fifty years of constitutional protection for abortion rights...more
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 Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues....more
A federal judge has struck down a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandating group health plans and insurers to cover a long list of preventive services without cost-sharing from participants. The March 30 decision...more
Applicable large employers must adhere to many Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules to remain compliant regarding group health plan offerings. We offer the following checklist of the five most helpful reminders you should take...more
Employers that sponsor self-insured group health plans, including health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) should keep in mind the upcoming July 31, 2022 deadline for paying fees that fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes...more
Summer has come and gone, but there was no summer vacation for employee benefits legislation and guidance. In case you have been too busy to check out our blogs lately, here are some key items to help you stay organized and...more
On October 29, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) along with the Department of Labor (DOL) and Treasury issued a final rule on price transparency to enable patients to accurately predict health care...more
The IRS has announced the 2021 dollar limits impacting retirement plans and IRAs. The agency also issued welfare plan limits, as well as ACA penalties. The chart below summarizes these 2021 figures along with the...more
On October 29, 2020, the US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury (collectively, the Departments) issued the Transparency in Coverage final rule (the Rule), along with a fact sheet, setting forth...more
Payroll Tax Relief Under CARES Act, FFCRA, and Executive Order - While the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act permitted employers to defer depositing the portion of the FICA taxes the employer pays...more
IRS Notice 2020-44 was issued this week as a reminder that Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees were extended under the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 and are now not scheduled to expire...more
In the wee hours of December 2019, Congress revived the PCORI fee and filing obligations of employer sponsors of self-insured group health plans. In accordance with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, employer...more
On November 15, 2019, the Federal Government issued two rules: one in final form and one in proposed form, both designed to increase price transparency in health care. The rules follow on the Executive Order announced by...more
Insurance carriers and employer sponsors of health plans were not exactly thrilled with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. You might say, the Affordable Care Act was viewed as the “wicked witch.” Although the...more
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the implementation of preventive care and wellness provisions of the...more
With the onslaught of Affordable Care Act changes, health plan sponsors have much to think about lately. Given the number of other issues affecting them, plan sponsors may feel that HIPAA privacy and security is an issue they...more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)’s 40% excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage (commonly known as the “Cadillac tax”) is slated to take effect in 2018. The IRS has issued several...more
The so-called “Cadillac Tax” (Internal Revenue Code Section 4980I) applies starting in 2018 and was intended to provide a means to address what were perceived as overly rich employer-provided health benefit plan designs, as...more
In the latest round of delays under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Employee Benefits Security Administration recently announced that the deadline for health plans to provide enrollment information to the transitional...more
Whether a group health plan provides minimum value is central to the application of the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules. The particulars of the role of minimum value in determining assessable...more