PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Health Plan Transparency Requirements
Podcast: What's New for Insurers in Mental Health Parity Compliance - Diagnosing Health Care
Compliance Perspective: What's New in Healthcare Privacy
Preparing Employers and Employees for 2021 Benefit Plans Decisions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Employee Benefits Considerations When Conducting Furloughs and Layoffs
COVID-19-Related Guidance Allows Employees to Revise 2020 Health Insurance Elections
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition - Deadline Extensions Impacting HIPAA, COBRA and ERISA
Employers: Benefits Considerations Post-Pandemic [More with McGlinchey Ep. 3]
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
The Biggest Obstacle to Value-Based Care
Last month, the IRS released the 2025 cost-of-living adjusted limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). The IRS requires that in order to contribute to an HSA, an individual must be...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced (see Revenue Procedure 2024-25) cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and...more
Earlier this month, a Mayo Clinic employee filed a proposed class action against the clinic, arguing that the clinic’s employee health plan and its third-party administrator (TPA) Medica, underpaid for services performed by...more
As it is often said, “the only constant in the world is constant change,” so it is important for health plan fiduciaries to periodically review the fundamentals for consistency and compliance to avoid risk and costly...more
A recent decision by a federal district court in Ohio in a health plan benefits dispute highlights the importance for health plan fiduciaries to properly review benefit claim denials to ensure that the claims administrator’s...more
As the year is quickly coming to an end, it is critical that plan sponsors set time aside to review their operational and administrative practices throughout the year. As appropriate, operational errors may be corrected and...more
When the same health plan administrator both administers a benefit plan and pays the benefits due under the plan, it is considered by courts to have a structural conflict of interest. That conflict of interest is not...more
This newsletter provides updates employers should be aware of heading into 2024, including an outline of the updated 2024 retirement and welfare plan limits, instructions related to the “gag order” attestation requirements...more
Most employers that operate health plans on a calendar-year basis kick-off open enrollment in November – which means you’re likely gearing up now for the annual influx of questions, benefit changes, and associated tasks....more
The time may have come to add a welfare plan committee to your company’s governance of employee benefit plans. New legal obligations and other developments impose fiduciary risks for welfare plans similar to what already...more
Certain provisions of the Transparency in Coverage Final Regulations and the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (“CAA”) require group health plans and/or their vendors to report information to federal agencies. On December...more
Employees generally know healthcare is expensive, but they often don’t know just how expensive until they’re on COBRA and are shocked at the cost. Companies pay around $23,000 per year for family and $8,000 per year for...more
With the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) set to end on May 11, 2023, federal agencies have published FAQs explaining how the end of the PHE will affect previously extended deadlines relating to COBRA, HIPAA special...more
When the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) was enacted on December 27, 2020, it included a provision that prohibits group health plans and health insurance carriers from entering into certain agreements that,...more
The Biden administration recently announced its intention to end the COVID-19 National Emergency and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency effective May 11, 2023. These emergency declarations have been in place for nearly...more
Besides ensuring the federal government remains fully funded, President Biden’s signature Thursday on the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 23) contains several provisions that will directly impact health and...more
Final Regulations under Section 36B of the Internal Revenue Code - On October 11, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Final Regulations under Code Section 36B relating to eligibility for the Affordable Care...more
As is tradition, we are happy to present our End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. We are publishing our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. Part 1 covered year-end health and welfare plan issues. This...more
Woodruff Sawyer’s “Mission to More” series leads you through today’s Benefits news and serves as a guide for everything from competitive programs to compliance. In this second blog post, Marc Strickland demonstrates how both...more
The July 1st deadline is quickly approaching for non-grandfathered group health plans and issuers to publicly disclose, in accordance with the Transparency in Coverage Final Rules, price information in machine-readable files...more
Since 2015, federal agencies have been required to annually review the laws and regulations they enforce to adjust applicable penalties for inflation. The idea has been to provide increasingly greater incentives for plan...more
Year-end is always a scramble for health plan sponsors as they go through renewal and open enrollment. This year was looking to be worse than normal given the impending deadlines for complying with the transparency in...more
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2021-15 to provide guidance on certain provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 (the "CAA") affecting the administration of flexible spending accounts ("FSAs"). The CAA changes...more