Last week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services finalized regulations implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). Although the final regulations step back...more
Family building benefits continue to be top of mind as employers and plan sponsors implement new benefit programs to support family building journeys for their employees. At the same time, there have been a few recent...more
8/19/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compliance ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fertility Treatments ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Human Rights ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Title VII
At the end of June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court order invalidating the Affordable Care Act preventive services mandate for “A” or “B” items and services recommended by the United...more
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug mifepristone, which is used as part of a two-drug protocol to induce abortion. The Court ruled that...more
A federal district court rebuffed putative class claims alleging that Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. and two of the plans it administered violated the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) by...more
On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued final rules which expand what it means to provide fiduciary “investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and...more
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published in the federal register a final amendment to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (the “QPAM Exemption”) that makes considerable changes to the...more
4/17/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
QPAM ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Willful Misconduct
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) recently issued guidance for group health plans outlining a “therapeutic equivalence” medical management technique for required preventive...more
Approximately one year after Congress enacted the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”), the IRS issued Notice 2024-02, which addresses SECURE 2.0 implementation issues and extends the plan amendment deadline. Although...more
1/17/2024
/ 401k ,
Automatic Enrollment ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employer Contributions ,
Incentives ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
SECURE Act ,
Student Loans
The new “retirement security rule” package, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 31, 2023, is the latest chapter in an almost 15-year effort by the DOL to amend the five-part test in its 1975...more
12/11/2023
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Securities ,
Valuation
The day after Thanksgiving, while many of us were fortunate enough to be reaching for leftover pie, the IRS released proposed regulations implementing the requirement that 401(k) plan sponsors permit “long-term part-time...more
As we approach December, the impending arrival of Santa Claus is no doubt dominating discussions in many households. However, there is another, perhaps lesser known, “clause”-related item that health plan sponsors need to...more
The new “retirement security rule” package, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 31, 2023, is the latest chapter in an almost 15-year effort by the DOL to amend the five-part test in its 1975...more
11/28/2023
/ 401k ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary-Standards ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
PTEs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Responding to the “terrifying” reality that conflicted investment advice is costing retirement savers billions of dollars each year, on October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued proposed rules representing its...more
11/1/2023
/ 401k ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Regulation ,
PTEs ,
Retirement
On Friday, the IRS released Notice 2023-62, which addresses certain pressing implementation issues related to the SECURE 2.0 requirement that catch-up contributions for participants with FICA wages of more than $145,000...more
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a Texas federal district court order revoking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the drug mifepristone,...more
On Tuesday, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services issued proposed amendments to regulations implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) and new regulations...more
A recent Sixth Circuit decision emphasizes the importance of maintaining correct benefit plan delegations to avoid tussles over the correct standard of review for benefit claims. In this case, the Sixth Circuit concluded...more
In the most recent sign that special COVID-19 benefit plan rules are drawing to a close, last Friday, the IRS issued Notice 2023-37, which clarifies the scope of COVID-19 testing and treatment that can be provided on a...more
6/28/2023
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit approved the parties’ stipulated agreement to stay enforcement of the district court decision in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra until the appeal is resolved...more
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay of enforcement of the district court decision in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra. Readers of our earlier blog (found here) will...more
“Didn’t we just do this?” might be the first question asked by many health plan sponsors and administrators when gearing up to complete 2022 prescription drug reporting by June 1, 2023. The answer to that question is both...more
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) recently released guidance for group health plans on required preventive services coverage. The guidance was issued in response to a...more
4/26/2023
/ ACIP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
HDHP ,
HRSA ,
SBC ,
U.S. Treasury
Last Friday, the United States Supreme Court stayed a federal district court order that suspended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug mifepristone, which is used as part of a two-drug regimen to...more
Important Update: Based on informal comments from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that the tolling of benefit plan deadlines will end on July 10, 2023, as described in our earlier blog on this subject,...more