New regulatory guidance from three federal agencies that enforce private-sector benefits laws will make employers’ daunting 2021 health benefit to-do lists slightly - but only slightly - more manageable heading into 2022....more
8/24/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
New Guidance ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Surprise Medical Bills ,
U.S. Treasury
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has proven to be quite resistant to attempts to dismantle it, but on December 14, 2018, a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, may have finally accomplished what the...more
The creation and implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) was a long, strange trip beset throughout by policy disagreements, shifting political winds, backroom legislative dealings,...more
Regardless of one’s preferred metaphor, the Supreme Court of the United States is adept at ducking, punting, and otherwise avoiding messy and socially divisive interpretive issues. Every once in a while, the parties even help...more
5/17/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Nonprofits ,
Popular ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Women's Rights ,
Young Lawyers ,
Zubik v Burwell
For the many employers and health care providers that have thus far been spending their holidays poring over the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) new tax forms and their cryptic instructions in anticipation of the inaugural round...more
Despite a marked lack of success for efforts in Congress and through the courts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) completely, or substantially interrupt its implementation, the Bipartisan...more
For many employers, the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is already a reality. Having now worked out some of the administrative kinks associated with providing the health plan coverage required by the...more
On June 25, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that tax credits are available to individuals in states that have a federal Exchange under Section 1321 of the Affordable Care Act (the Act or the ACA). In a...more
After wandering in the wilderness for a year, California has now come in from the cold and conformed its requirements for eligibility waiting periods to the federal standard adopted in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Effective...more
On July 7, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that will give small business owners additional time to comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill takes effect immediately as an urgency statute. Senate Bill...more
On Friday, May 23, 2014, the White House, through its executive branch and other federal agencies, issued the Spring 2014 edition of the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. Published twice a year, the agencies’ regulatory agendas...more
6/4/2014
/ Affirmative Action ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
HUD ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
OFCCP ,
OMB ,
Persuader Rules ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Unions ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
As part of its continuing efforts to update the sleepier corners of the employee benefits world to conform to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed new...more
5/13/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Guidance Update ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Healthcare ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Notice Requirements ,
Proposed Regulation ,
US v Windsor
Since 2006, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has prohibited health plans from discriminating based upon an individual’s health status. Since many modern wellness programs are expressly designed...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the three federal agencies with primary responsibility for implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA),...more
As a reminder of the significant role that states will play in implementing the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we wanted to highlight some recent legislative developments in California that will be of interest...more
The regulatory log-jam in Washington seems to finally be loosening up in the aftermath of the election, and the troika of agencies primarily responsible for overseeing implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable...more