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Health Insurance Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act Corporate Counsel

Verrill

A Primer on COBRA Continuation Coverage for Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts

Verrill on

It is a common practice for employers to offer employees a health care flexible spending account (“Health FSA”) option under a cafeteria plan. However, employers (and their COBRA administrators) may not be aware that Health...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Takeaways from a Recent COBRA Notice Class Action Settlement

Recent years have seen a barrage of class action lawsuits alleging that group health plan continuation coverage election notices, required under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), are deficient in one...more

Woodruff Sawyer

Compliance Alert: Agencies Issue Guidance on the End of COVID-19 Emergencies

Woodruff Sawyer on

On January 30, 2023, President Biden issued a Statement of Administration Policy announcing his intent to end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, 2023. However, on April 10, 2023, the President...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Whiplash: The Orderly and Disorderly End to the COVID-19 Declarations

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Summary - Sponsors of employee benefit plans face heightened plan design and administrative challenges in the wake of President Biden’s surprise termination of the COVID-19 national emergency. This unexpected development,...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

COBRA Election and Payment Periods: Does One Year of “Tolling” Really Mean One Year?

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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

It’s Not Over ‘Til It’s Over: The COBRA Premium Subsidy is Ending

As we mentioned in our May 23, 2021, article, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides a 100 percent premium subsidy for continuation coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Sept. 15 Is Final Deadline for ARPA COBRA Subsidy Expiration Notices

Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) requires employers, multiemployer trustees and insurers (collectively, “plan administrators”) to provide a 100% subsidy for COBRA health care continuation coverage...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

An Additional Word from IRS Regarding the ARP COBRA Subsidy

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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

COBRA Subsidy: You’ve Got Questions...We’ve Got Answers

The new 100 percent premium subsidy applies to individuals eligible for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) coverage due to either a reduction in hours or an involuntary termination of employment, and it...more

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

ARPA COBRA Premium Subsidy – Time for Employer Plans to Update COBRA Notices

Employers should be busy preparing tailored COBRA continuation coverage notices for certain individuals, addressing complicated election and altered COBRA premium topics that took effect only in recent weeks. Below, we offer...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

COBRA Subsidy: What We Know Now After Initial DOL Guidance

Less than a month after the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law, new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) guidance and model forms are clearing up a number of employer concerns about the 100 percent COBRA...more

Stokes Wagner

Employers Should Begin Planning for COBRA Subsidy

Stokes Wagner on

The American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”), signed into law on March 11, 2021, obligates employers to pay COBRA insurance premiums for individuals who suffer job loss. Under the plan, employers receive the subsidy, which they pass...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DOL Guidance Clarifies Expiration of COVID-19 Deadline Extension for Employee Benefit Plans

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 in the nick of time on February 26, 2021. EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 was released...more

Laner Muchin, Ltd.

Employers Need to Be Aware of their Obligations Related to the COBRA Subsidy Under the New Federal Stimulus Legislation

Laner Muchin, Ltd. on

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus package, known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), into law. In order to assist employees with the cost of health coverage, ARPA includes...more

Hogan Lovells

Employers beware: faulty COBRA notices may amount to millions

Hogan Lovells on

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) permits employees and their dependents to extend health coverage under an employer’s group health plan when coverage would otherwise be lost due to termination of...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Recent COBRA Developments Call for Employer Attention

Employers subject to the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) should take action to update their COBRA notices, election forms, and procedures as a result of recent regulatory and litigation...more

Littler

DOL Releases New Model COBRA Notices Amid Continued Wave of Litigation

Littler on

On May 1, 2020, the Department of Labor released new versions of its model COBRA notices, adding a new action item for employers facing a contracting workforce and a growing wave of participant litigation....more

Carlton Fields

Forewarned Is Forearmed: Why Companies Need to Review Their COBRA Notices to Avoid Growing Class Action Trend

Carlton Fields on

Even before the current pandemic crisis, we have noticed a growing trend in the filing of class action lawsuits challenging, under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), notices required to be issued by...more

Littler

July Is Always the “New January” for Employment Laws, But This Year Takes the Cake!

Littler on

Every year, there are numerous state laws and local ordinances that take effect after the first of the year — and 2019 is no exception. Indeed, if anything, this year has seen a dramatic surge in the number of measures...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Court Cases Challenge English-Only COBRA Election Procedures

McDermott Will & Emery on

Two pending federal cases could reveal situations in which employers with a significant multi-lingual workforce should provide translated versions of their COBRA election materials....more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Claim Arising from Incorrectly Addressed COBRA Notice

In Vangas v. Montefiore Medical Center, 2016 WL 2909354 (2d Cir. May 19, 2016), the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s holding that an employer is not liable for failing to provide a COBRA notice to a terminated...more

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