On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law Congress’s spending bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, which included the Additional Coronavirus Response and Relief (ACRR) provisions that modified...more
Beginning in 2022, employer-sponsored health plans will be required to pay providers certain emergency and out-of-network charges that would have otherwise been balance billed to participants.
That is the centerpiece of...more
On October 26, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updated various dollar limitations that apply to tax-qualified retirement plans for 2021. The new amounts, published in Notice 2020-79, are annually adjusted for cost of...more
10/30/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contribution Limits ,
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan ,
Small Employer Plans (SEPs)
A federal court ruling staying key parts of new Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations in light of the landmark Supreme Court of the United States ruling on sexual orientation and gender identity will provide little certainty...more
On July 8, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance for employers on reporting qualifying wages paid to employees under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave...more
Employers have more clarity on COVID-19 testing coverage requirements - including new details on at-home tests, return-to-work testing, and out-of-network pricing - under new guidance that the U.S. Department of Health and...more
Most employer-sponsored health plans will be exempt from the primary Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision governing race, color, age, sex, disability, and national origin discrimination under new final rules issued by the U.S....more
With employers planning for employees to return to work following COVID-19–related closures, there are sure to be questions about sharing employee medical information as it relates to COVID-19 (symptoms, test results, status)...more
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and the federal government have made significant changes to the laws governing the availability of unemployment insurance benefits. These changes, which respond to the...more
High-deductible health plans may now cover testing and treatment for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on a first-dollar basis without risking making participants ineligible to participate in health savings accounts (HSAs)....more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revisited the treatment of prescription drug manufacturer coupons in a proposed rule, published on February 6, 2020, that could be welcome news for employers that have been...more
In late December, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, the most sweeping retirement legislation since the Pension Protection Act of...more
1/16/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Beneficiary Designations ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Legislation ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-63 on December 2, 2019 providing some relief from Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements. The notice provides relief consistent with that provided in the past...more
12/11/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Form 1095 ,
Good Faith ,
Health Insurance ,
Individual Mandate ,
Insurance Industry ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Relief Measures ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Time Extensions
Employer-sponsored health plans and health insurers may be required to post online - and to provide participants upon request - a range of pricing and cost-sharing information beginning in 2021.
Proposed Affordable Care...more
11/26/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Hospitals ,
Out-of-Pocket Expenses ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Transparency
Employer plans will still be able to exclude the value of drug manufacturer coupons from annual out-of-pocket maximums, even when no generic equivalent is available, under new guidance from the Department of Labor, Department...more
8/28/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Co-payments ,
Deductibles ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
U.S. Treasury
Regulations published last month grant employers more options for covering their employees with health insurance, effective January 1, 2020. The regulations will be particularly favorable to higher education institutions....more
Starting in 2020, employers will be able to offer health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) that work in conjunction with individual coverage or Medicare without running afoul of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) market reform...more