In January 2025, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) filed a complaint against the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the departments) seeking to invalidate the 2024 final regulations under...more
5/22/2025
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) generally requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as copays and deductibles), quantitative treatment...more
12/20/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Regulatory Agenda
The US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) recently issued much-anticipated final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The newly issued...more
9/18/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Popular ,
U.S. Treasury
If our trade and industry sources have it right, we could see final regulations implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), as most recently amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021...more
8/6/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Government Agencies ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
Noncompliance ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Authority ,
U.S. House ,
U.S. Treasury
On July 1, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) submitted final regulations to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) as most recently amended by the...more
7/30/2024
/ Congressional Budget Office ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mental Health ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
U.S. Treasury
A question in response to last week’s post on self-funding of employer group health plans assumed that stop-loss coverage under a level-funded plan could be provided under a group captive medical captive. However, it cannot...more
Thanks to two cases about federally mandated observers on fishing boats, judicial deference to agencies is likely to soon get weaker – and more unpredictable – with wide-ranging impacts for employee benefits. Less deference...more
2/22/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Chevron Deference ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
IRS ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Private Letter Rulings ,
Proposed Rules ,
SCOTUS
This post continues our consideration of comments submitted in response to proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Our previous MHPAEA content is available...more
2/20/2024
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
U.S. Treasury
Comments submitted in response to the proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) reflect a broad range of perspectives. Our previous MHPAEA content is available here....more
2/2/2024
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Initiatives ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Rules ,
Standard of Care ,
U.S. Treasury
After a brief hiatus to discuss the pleading standards adopted by the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in E.W. v. Health Net Life Insurance Company, we return to our examination of the comments submitted in response...more
This post continues our focus on comment letters submitted in response to proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The proposed regulations were issued earlier this year by the US...more
Employer-sponsored health insurance covers almost 159 million non-elderly US workers and their dependents, and employees and jobseekers alike view group health coverage as the single most important non-cash job-related...more
11/28/2023
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Regulatory Agenda
In our last post, we considered some of the comment letters submitted in response to proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and...more
11/14/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
U.S. Treasury
We continue our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the Departments)...more
11/8/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation
This post continues our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the...more
This post continues our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the...more
9/26/2023
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
U.S. Treasury
This post continues our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the...more
9/21/2023
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
PHSA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
U.S. Treasury
In previous posts, we reported on proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the...more
Last week’s post examined the “no more restrictive” requirement that would apply to non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) set out in recently proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity...more
9/7/2023
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation
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
9/7/2023
/ Class Action ,
COBRA ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Insurance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Retailers
We previously reported on proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). If adopted in final form, these regulations would vastly complicate compliance by group health plans and health...more
8/29/2023
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
U.S. Treasury
The US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) recently issued much-anticipated proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to better...more
8/4/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Regulation ,
U.S. Treasury
A recent article by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and National Public Radio (NPR) raised the prospect that patients may still see surprise medical bills despite the enactment of the No Surprises Act (NSA)....more
7/25/2023
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Billing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Out of Network Provider ,
Surprise Medical Bills ,
U.S. Treasury
The Biden administration previously announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our series introduction for more information). On April...more
5/17/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Deductibles ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Public Health Emergency ,
U.S. Treasury
On April 20, 2023, McDermott’s Alden Bianchi was a speaker at the ERISA Industry Committee’s 2023 Annual Spring Policy Conference, which was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The panel in which he...more
5/11/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rutledge v Pharmaceutical Care Management Association ,
SCOTUS ,
Supply Chain ,
Telehealth