Employee Benefits Archives | Page 22 of 153

Tenth Circuit Reaffirms Preemption of State Pharmacy Network Regulations

by Andrew Liazos, Michael B. Kimberly and Sarah P. Hogarth | Aug 23, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held in Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Mulready (PCMA) that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Medicare Part D preempted several provisions of Oklahoma law regulating pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacy networks. Left unchallenged, these provisions threaten the ability of employers and Medicare Advantage organizations to design uniform nationwide health plans. The Tenth Circuit’s decision in favor of PCMA overturned a lower court decision that caused great concern about the ability of states to indirectly dictate the design of plans governed by ERISA and Medicare Part D.

Read more here.

Forfeitures: Changing the Rules of the Game for Retirement Plans

by Diane Morgenthaler, Dan O’Neil and Jeffrey Holdvogt | Aug 22, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans

The US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service recently issued proposed regulations on the use of forfeitures by tax-qualified retirement plans. The proposed changes provide welcome clarity for plan sponsors but may require revisions to plan administration and legal plan documents.

Read more here.

Will Policy, Regulation Issues Stifle AI’s Advances in Healthcare?

by Alya Sulaiman | Aug 16, 2023 | Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

How is artificial intelligence (AI) shaping the healthcare industry? In this HealthLeaders article, Alya Sulaiman describes an active landscape in which federal agencies and state attorneys general are competing to regulate the technology.

Access the article.

Better Than a Snow Day: The PBGC Provides One-Time Section 4010 Reporting Waiver

by Todd Solomon, Diane Morgenthaler and Dan O’Neil | Aug 15, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans

In an acknowledgment of uncommon market conditions and their corresponding effect on defined benefit pension plan funding, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the PBGC) provided a welcome one-time waiver for some underfunded pension plans under Section 4010 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). However, to qualify for the waiver, pension plan sponsors still need to timely notify the PBGC.

Read more here.

Just Catching Up? For SECURE 2.0’s Catch-Up Contributions, Age Is More Than Just a Number

by Sarah L. Engle and Brian Tiemann | Aug 15, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans, SECURE 2.0 Act

Nearly all employers offer eligible participants the opportunity to make additional catch-up contributions to their retirement plans. However, beginning in 2025, the SECURE 2.0 Act makes so-called “super-catch-up contributions” available to certain employees. Adding this new feature will require employers and their service providers to develop new processes to monitor various ages and limits and to audit that information to ensure it is properly applied.

Read more here.

IRS Opines on the Tax Treatment of Employer-Funded, Insured, Fixed-Indemnity Wellness Policies

by Jacob Mattinson, Sarah Raaii, Alden Bianchi and Teal Trujillo | Aug 10, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

In light of recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance, employers should carefully examine any supplemental health plan, program or arrangement (which may or may not claim to leverage fixed indemnity insurance) that promises substantial payroll tax savings. In a legal advice memorandum, the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel addressed and rejected the claimed tax treatment and purported advantages of certain “wellness indemnity” payments under an employer-funded hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance policy. The arrangement described in the memo is similar to other so-called “double dipping” arrangements that the IRS has previously rejected.

Read more here.

Treasury, DOL and HHS Issue Landmark Mental Health Parity Proposed Rule

by Alden Bianchi, Sarah Raaii and Jacob Mattinson | Aug 8, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

The US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) recently issued much-anticipated proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to better ensure that health plans allow access to mental health or substance use disorder benefits as easily as medical or surgical benefits. The proposed regulations reiterate the Departments’ focus on mental health parity and underscore the importance of compliance for health plan sponsors. They also come after many plans have been subject to audit by the Departments which focused heavily on MHPAEA compliance, leaving plan sponsors frustrated at the lack of guidance and inconsistent application of MHPAEA.

Read more here.

Nevada and Connecticut Pass Consumer Health Data Laws

by David Saunders and Doris Yuen | Aug 3, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Privacy and Data Security

Following in the footsteps of Washington State’s My Health My Data Act, the governors of Nevada and Connecticut recently approved Nevada SB 370 and Connecticut SB 3. These bills impose a number of new requirements on the processing of consumer health data. Nevada SB 370 will go into effect on March 31, 2024, while the consumer health data-related provisions of Connecticut SB 3 that amend the Connecticut Data Privacy Act will take effect on July 1, 2023.

Read more here.

July Trending in Telehealth

by Dale C. Van Demark and Grayson I. Dimick | Aug 2, 2023 | Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

Numerous states—including Alaska, Maryland, California and Colorado—have been busy finalizing rulemaking and legislation impacting Medicaid coverage and maternal health. What have these states been up to over the last month?

Learn more here.

How Dobbs Has Changed the Data Privacy Landscape

by Scott Weinstein | Jul 26, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Privacy and Data Security

Companies are taking a fresh look at their privacy policies in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. According to this Law360 article, policymakers are putting more pressure on companies to tighten their restrictions on collecting and disclosing personal health and location data.

Access the article.

BLOG EDITORS

STAY CONNECTED

TOPICS

ARCHIVES

RECENT POSTS