PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
On December 2, 2021, President Joe Biden made comments announcing the White House’s plan for combating COVID-19 and the emerging new variant, Omicron. As part of the nine-step plan, President Biden announced an initiative...more
Many employers maintain formal or informal severance policies or practices that they use sporadically. Other employers may implement a severance program for a limited period of time to reduce the number of employees overall...more
This article is the first post in our new “State” of Telehealth series in which we discuss innovation on a state level on the expansion of telehealth access, coverage and reimbursement. On January 14, 2021, the New...more
In a unanimous (8-0) opinion authored by Justice Sotomayor, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an Arkansas state law regulating rates at which pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) reimburse pharmacies is not preempted by ERISA. ...more
On October 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument on ERISA’s preemptive effect on a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs) generic drug reimbursement rates in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments on a key case that could have major ramifications on the scope of ERISA preemption, two recent case developments show just how important the high court’s...more
On the latest episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt discusses new opportunities that the IRS and COVID-19 legislative relief have created for health flexible spending and cafeteria plans....more
In January, the Supreme Court agreed to accept an appeal filed by the State of Arkansas of a decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals finding that Section 514 of ERISA expressly preempted the state’s maximum allowable...more
Seeking to control healthcare costs, many group health plans have adopted amendments that lower reimbursement rates for the treatment of end-stage renal disease ("ESRD"), which requires long-term dialysis treatment or a...more
The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) continues to provide ongoing substantive and procedural guidance regarding the implementation of the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Program (“PFML”)....more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, No. 18-540, a case that asks the Court to decide whether ERISA preempts an Arkansas state law that regulates rates at...more
Seyfarth synopsis: The Supreme Court has just granted certiorari in a case regarding the question of whether ERISA preempts state efforts to regulate Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The decision will have important...more
Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Ass’n, No. 18-540. Most states have enacted legislation regulating “pharmacy benefit managers”— businesses that act as middlemen between health insurers and pharmacies, earning...more
On the latest episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, Ellie Clendenin, Nona Massengill, and Brydon DeWitt discuss some end of year benefit plan considerations as 2020 approaches. ...more
California recently approved Assembly Bill 1554, adding a flexible spending account notice requirement to § 2810.7 of the California Labor Code. The new law, which takes effect January 1, 2020, states...more
The Cures Act aims to increase the speed by which new drugs are brought to market by streamlining clinical trials, allowing the use of patient data in the regulatory review process, and modernizing U.S. Food and Drug...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act) requires health plans to provide the same coverage for mental health conditions as they provide for physical conditions, and that financial Requirements and...more
Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers had a wide variety of options when it came to paying for employee coverage. One common design, particularly for smaller employers, was to reimburse employees on a pre-tax basis...more
Most ERISA group health plans have subrogation terms – that is, terms allowing the plan to recover benefits paid to injured participants who later recover a tort settlement for their injuries. These subrogation claims are...more
In Montanile v. National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan (January 20, 2016), the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to ERISA plans that seek to recover health benefits paid to participants who sustain injuries caused by...more
It’s a common fact pattern. A plan participant is injured and received benefits for treatment of his injuries. The participant then sues a third party for damages based on his injuries. The plan then seeks to recover a...more
Knowingly spending money that isn’t yours sounds like a no-no, but depending on how the Supreme Court rules in Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan (No. 14-723), certain ERISA...more
In its current term, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on three cases that interpret the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The three ERISA cases will inevitably have an effect on plan...more
In the fourth installment of articles looking at the employment law cases being heard by the US Supreme Court this fall term, Montanile addresses issues near and dear to every employer’s heart – ERISA plans and the...more