Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a Texas federal district court order revoking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug mifepristone,...more
Last Friday, the United States Supreme Court stayed a federal district court order that suspended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug mifepristone, which is used as part of a two-drug regimen to...more
Important Update: Based on informal comments from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that the tolling of benefit plan deadlines will end on July 10, 2023, as described in our earlier blog on this subject,...more
Earlier this week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) jointly issued guidance confirming that most COVID-19-related benefit coverage mandates, as well as the special tolling...more
The Biden Administration recently announced that the COVID-19 National Emergency will end on May 11, 2023. This means that the requirement to extend various benefit plan deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end as...more
On December 15, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published final regulations that make permanent certain relief and changes relating to the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) reporting requirements. Specifically, the final...more
Just three short days before the December 27th deadline for health plans and issuers to report prescription drug and health care spending information to the government, on December 23, 2022, the Departments of Labor,...more
Employers and other group health plan sponsors are left with much to consider following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled the Supreme Court’s prior landmark...more
7/1/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Pregnancy ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Roe v Wade ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination
Can group health plans continue to provide coverage for abortion-related expenses? In short, yes. Dobbs does not prohibit group health plans from covering abortion-related expenses. Instead, Dobbs eliminates federal...more
7/1/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Patient Access ,
Pregnancy ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Roe v Wade ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination
A few short weeks ago we told you in a blog post that, with only four days’ notice, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and HHS (the Departments) required that, starting January 15, 2022, group health plans cover FDA-approved...more
2/7/2022
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
New Regulations ,
Over The Counter Drugs (OTC) ,
Safe Harbors ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Remember the DOL/Treasury relief that tolled the COBRA election and payment deadlines for up to one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic (referred to below as “Tolling Relief”)? If you have been wondering whether, under that...more
10/8/2021
/ COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Infectious Diseases ,
IRS ,
Premiums ,
Relief Measures ,
Tolling ,
U.S. Treasury
The IRS just released some new supplemental guidance on the COBRA premium subsidy in the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARP”). IRS Notice 2021-46, released July 26, 2021 provides additional color on a handful of discrete subsidy...more
On May 18, 2021, the IRS released Notice 2021-31 (the “Notice”) providing guidance on the temporary 100% COBRA premium subsidy under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”), summarized generally here. The Notice...more
One important question that arises when determining whether an individual is eligible for the COBRA premium subsidy under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”) is whether the employee has experienced an involuntary...more
On May 18, 2021, the IRS released Notice 2021-31, which provides implementation guidance on the COBRA premium subsidy available under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). As discussed in our prior blog posts, ARP...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) requires that plan administrators distribute new COBRA notices to individuals in connection with the COBRA premium subsidy...more
The American Rescue Plan (“ARP”) offers a special 60-day election period for certain individuals who previously declined or discontinued COBRA coverage (“Assistance Eligible Individuals” or “AEIs,” as defined in ARP). These...more
4/22/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Relief Measures ,
Special Election
Immediate Action Required -
As discussed in our prior posts, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”) requires that plan administrators distribute new COBRA notices advising individuals of their possible rights to a...more
As we previously explained in prior blogs, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) includes a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for periods of coverage occurring between April 1 and September 30, 2021 for certain eligible...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) includes a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for “assistance eligible individuals,” for periods of coverage occurring between April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021, as described in...more
As we previously explained in our prior blogs, both here and here, on the new COBRA subsidy rules, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), includes a 100% COBRA premium subsidy for periods of coverage occurring between...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), which was just passed by Congress and will be sent to President Biden for signature, includes an opportunity for free COBRA coverage for a six-month period from April through...more
In our February 12th blog post, we raised the question of how to interpret the duration of the DOL/Treasury relief tolling certain benefit plan deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without guidance from the agencies, it...more
As discussed in an earlier blog post on the DOL/Treasury relief extending benefit plan deadlines due to the pandemic, plans have to disregard an “outbreak period” when determining deadlines for COBRA elections and premiums...more
As part of the COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress earlier this week, the federal government expands on earlier relief issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for health and dependent care flexible spending...more