Congress and the Biden Administration are grappling with an economic stimulus bill that will touch many segments of American life, including health care, if it passes in the Senate. This has many clients wondering what impact...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
On June 13, the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services jointly released final regulations dealing with health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”). These regulations fulfill the Trump administration’s...more
On June 13, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (collectively, the “Departments”)...more
On October 22, 2018, in perhaps the most significant guidance resulting from President Trump’s 2017 Executive Order 13813, “Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States” (“2017 Executive Order”), the...more
As LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in political and social issues, FordHarrison has been following ground-breaking litigation related to LGBTQ rights and providing updates. In the latest decision, a federal judge in...more
In an earlier post, we reported on a troubling development in the draft 2015 instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B which, if adopted, would have required sponsors of Health Reimbursement Arrangements (“HRA”) to issue...more
On July 31, 2015, President Obama signed the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015, temporarily extending the Highway Trust Fund to provide continued funding for federal transportation...more
The IRS has finalized the 2015 forms and instructions for reporting under the individual and employer mandates and issued additional guidance on these new reporting requirements. The following forms are now available...more
On September 16, 2015, the IRS finalized these ACA coverage reporting Forms and Instructions... We report here, with minimal analysis, changes that we recognized on first comparison to the 2015 Draft Forms and Instructions....more
Retirement Plans - IRS Issues Guidance on Benefit Suspension Voting under MPRA - As we have written in prior alerts, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) permits trustees of financially troubled...more
On July 31, 2015, President Obama signed P.L. 114-41, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (“Highway Act”), into law. Although the Highway Act is primarily for the purpose of...more
In a recent notice, the Internal Revenue Service has tempered prior guidance that closed the door on employer arrangements for paying the cost of individual health insurance for employees. The IRS still views these premium...more
Continuing its focus on so-called “premium reimbursement” or “employer payment plans”, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released IRS Notice 2015-17 on February 18, 2015. In this Notice, which was previewed and approved by...more
Some employers – particularly smaller ones – have assisted their employees to obtain health insurance by reimbursing them for the cost of insurance they purchase in the individual market. Does this practice satisfy the...more
Last week, HHS, along with the Department of Labor and the Treasury, provided long overdue guidance regarding the third category of supplemental “excepted benefits” as defined by Section 2791 of the Public Health Services...more
The new Republican Congress began its session with an attempt to narrow the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate by exempting certain veterans and their families from counting toward the number of employees at small...more
The advent of federally subsidized private pay health insurance under the Affordable Care Act has the potential to expand the application of the federal anti-kickback statute beyond just Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare. The...more
In This Issue: - DO SUBSIDIZED HEALTH CARE PLANS PURCHASED UNDER THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT TRIGGER THE ANTI-KICKBACK STATUTE? The advent of federally subsidized private pay health insurance under the Affordable...more
The DOJ has released its Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2013 totals for civil settlements and judgments recovered under the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”). To say that the Department had a successful year in prosecuting fraud against...more
The IRS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have issued two important pieces of guidance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act regarding the responsibilities imposed on individuals to...more