The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
The world of health benefits is constantly evolving. Recent policy shifts and legislative developments are expected to impact the economic landscape and have significant implications for employer plan sponsors, insurers,...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
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
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and insurers to cover treatments for mental health and substance use disorders in a manner that is equitable to the...more
NOTE: As we were preparing to publish this eAlert, the DOL issued proposed mental health parity regulations. We will provide an update on the proposed regulations in a future eAlert. Nonetheless, group health plans must still...more
How much would you get back in your budget if you could save up to 10% on your medical and Rx benefits costs? Employee benefits are the second largest budget item in employee compensation, with medical benefits consuming the...more
In the fall of 2019, we reported that Vermont enacted Senate Bill 41, which granted the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (the “Department”) jurisdiction over entities that administer one or more...more
Included within the 5539 pages of statutory changes in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the COVID-19 relief bill signed into law at the end of December 2020) are important new “transparency” laws that affect third...more
As we addressed in our recent LawFlash covering the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Act), the Act includes several requirements to enhance group health plan transparency. One provision we wanted to further highlight...more
Employers across the country are currently considering what actions to put in place in light of the potential spread of COVID-19 (the coronavirus). Many employers offer their employees high-deductible health plans that can...more
In response to the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the Internal Revenue Service advised that a health plan that otherwise satisfies the requirements to be a High Deductible Health Plan (“HDHP”) under section 223(c)(2)(A) will not...more
The IRS issued guidance on March 11 that clears the way for employers to offer employees covered by a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) testing and treatment for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) with no deductible or at...more
A U.S. District Court in Connecticut recently issued an order that highlights the importance of understanding exactly what the term “medically necessary” means in an ERISA health plan....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employer subsidized healthcare is one of the largest cost centers for small and large businesses. This post provides a primer on what to do if you suspect that your healthcare costs are rising because your...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Eighth Circuit upheld dismissal of Title VII claims challenging an employee benefit plan’s blanket transgender exclusion because the exclusion impacted the employee’s transgender son, not the employee....more