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Health Insurance Corporate Counsel

Verrill

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

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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

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Lawful Products Statutes Complicate Employers' Response to Employees' Claims of CBD Use

Over the past year, we have encountered a growing number of claims raised by applicants and employees who allege that positive drug test results for marijuana were actually the result of their use of legal hemp products...more

Fisher Phillips

Appeals Court Hands Victory to Transgender Employee Seeking Health Benefits: Key Takeaways and 3 Steps Employers Can Take Now

Fisher Phillips on

A federal appeals court recently held that an employer’s health insurance plan wrongly excluded coverage for gender-affirming care in violation of federal civil rights law – offering a warning to employers across the country...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

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Fifth Circuit Stay Reinstates Preventive Services Mandate—For Now

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay of enforcement of the district court decision in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra. Readers of our earlier blog (found here) will...more

Woodruff Sawyer

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

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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

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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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

ACA Preventive Services Mandate Partially Vacated: What’s Affected, What’s Not, and What’s Next

A federal judge has struck down a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandating group health plans and insurers to cover a long list of preventive services without cost-sharing from participants. The March 30 decision...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

District Court Blocks ACA Provision Mandating Coverage of Preventive Services

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement for commercial coverage of certain preventive services without cost sharing is unenforceable, according to a March 30 decision in Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra by Judge Reed...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Wit Redux: Ninth Circuit Issues New Superseding Opinion in Landmark Mental Health Case

The Ninth Circuit has issued a new opinion in the long-running Wit v. United Behavioral Health litigation that changes the legal landscape for ERISA class actions. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion includes significant holdings on...more

Venable LLP

Fast-Approaching Deadlines for ACA Reporting and Similar State Reporting

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This alert describes upcoming reporting deadlines under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and under state laws that require similar reporting. Generally, reporting that relates to health coverage in one calendar year is due early...more

Fisher Phillips

5 Most Important Steps for Employers Doing Their 2023 ACA Compliance Planning

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Applicable large employers must adhere to many Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules to remain compliant regarding group health plan offerings. We offer the following checklist of the five most helpful reminders you should take...more

Dickinson Wright

Reproductive Healthcare Issues for Employers Series, Part I: May Abortions be Reimbursed on a Tax-Free Basis from a Health...

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Dickinson Wright’s All Things HR Blog is beginning a multi-part series on issues and questions faced by employers in response to the June 24, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization...more

Fisher Phillips

An Employer’s Guide to Workplace Protections for Abortion-Related Decisions

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Employers likely have questions about abortion-related employment protections and healthcare benefits after Friday’s SCOTUS controversial decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Given the ruling, people in states with strict...more

Littler

Impacts of the Dobbs Decision on Employer Benefit Plans

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As predicted, the United States Supreme Court issued its final decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which held the U.S. Constitution protected the right of...more

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

Employers Concerned about State Abortion Access Restrictions Weigh Options for Medical Travel Reimbursements

There has never been an ERISA requirement to include elective abortion medical coverage in ERISA group health plans. Even so, many nationwide employers choose to offer it alongside non-elective abortion medical coverage. ...more

Fisher Phillips

Feds Clarify At-Home COVID-19 Test Coverage Rules

Fisher Phillips on

Three federal Departments recently released FAQs to provide more details as to how employer group health plans may comply with the previously announced requirement to cover at-home OTC COVID-19 tests provided with no...more

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

Treasury Department, DOL, and HHS Provide Guidance on New Flexibility in Coverage of Over-the-Counter COVID-19 Tests

On February 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of the Treasury, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued subregulatory guidance that provides greater flexibility and clarifies a...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Employer Plans Must Pay For Over-the-Counter COVID Tests

Effective January 15, 2022, employer group health plans must pay for at-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests purchased during the public health emergency. Given that the requirement to cover over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 tests is...more

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

COVID-19 Testing Coverage Requirements for Group Health Plans and Insurers to Take Effect on January 15, 2022

Employer health plans and health insurers will be required to cover over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 tests, even without a health care provider’s order or an individualized clinical assessment, and generally without cost...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

IRS Proposes Regulations on ACA Reporting: Good News and Bad News for Employers

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published proposed regulations that, if finalized, will ease some of the requirements imposed on employers reporting offers of minimum essential health coverage, including a permanent...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Top Five Labor Law Developments for September 2021

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

1. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo mandated the seeking of more aggressive remedies in unfair labor practice (ULP) cases. Office of General Counsel Memorandum GC 21-06, Seeking Full...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

Stinson LLP

Agencies Issue COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive Guidance

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On October 4, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of the Treasury jointly issued FAQs relating to COVID-19 vaccine incentives and surcharges. Under the...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

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