Employers impacted by COVID-19 have a variety of questions regarding the situation’s effect on employee health and welfare plans - particularly on how to maintain compliance with state and federal regulations....more
This advisory examines the most innovative and controversial aspect of the new Association Health Plan (AHP) regulation: Allowing individual “working owners,” such as a self-employed person, partner, or independent...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has just released a final regulation allowing more employers to band together to form Association Health Plans (AHPs). The goal of the rule is to allow small employers to use the pricing...more
The new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates the ACA’s individual mandate to maintain minimum essential coverage, and the penalty for failure to do so, effective in 2019. While President Trump tweeted that this “effectively...more
After months of Congressional attempts to “repeal and replace” the ACA ended in failure, President Trump has issued an Executive Order and taken other actions that could significantly reshape the health care market. We are...more
On May 4, the House Republicans narrowly passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Except for effective dates, the provisions impacting employers were generally unchanged. One major change to the original bill is that...more
The Trump Administration has issued final market stabilization rules designed to keep insurers in the individual health insurance Marketplaces. The rules are virtually the same as the proposed rules described in our Update...more
Insurers have been pressuring the Trump Administration to relieve some of the uncertainty from the pending ACA “repeal/replace” debate in time for them to decide whether to participate in the individual health insurance...more
On Inauguration Day, President Trump signed an Executive Order to begin dismantling the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare.” While the Order has little immediate effect, and may have been issued on “day one” mainly to...more
The IRS has extended the relief available to employers who offer an “opt-out” payment to employees who decline company medical coverage. This means that for 2017, such payments, whether conditional or unconditional, will not...more
The IRS issued guidance on Feb. 18, 2015, providing temporary relief until June 30, 2015, from steep penalties for small employers and S-corps that have continued to use premium reimbursement arrangements to provide health...more
New IRS guidance adds two more events that allow participants to change their cafeteria plan elections outside of the annual open enrollment period. These events are designed to coordinate with the employer coverage rules and...more