K&L Gates Triage: An Insider’s Perspective on the Health Care Debate in Washington, DC
Open enrollment is rapidly approaching for employers with calendar-year employee benefit plans. Following are ten important issues for employers to consider for the 2024 open enrollment season...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues....more
With the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) set to end on May 11, 2023, the Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and Department of Health and Human Services (the “departments”) have published FAQs explaining...more
Sponsors of self-funded group health plans are required to notify enrollees about the availability of the plan’s notice of privacy practices and how enrollees can obtain a copy of such notice. This must be done at least once...more
We recognize that many companies sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and are currently undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist with that process, we have prepared an...more
Since 2015, federal agencies have been required to annually review the laws and regulations they enforce to adjust applicable penalties for inflation. The idea has been to provide increasingly greater incentives for plan...more
We recognize that many of our clients sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and are currently undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist our clients with that process, we...more
The Grand Old Party may have just won the dictionary definition of a Pyrrhic Victory. That’s because Republicans’ decade-long assault on the Affordable Care Act his finally showing predictable results, with the share of...more
On Friday, February 9, 2018, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the “Act”) was signed into law by President Trump, ending a brief government shutdown that began at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, February 8, 2018. In addition to...more
Following a brief shutdown of the federal government, on February 9, Congress passed and President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Budget Act), which provides Congress until March 23 to...more
The Congressional agreement that reopened the federal government for three weeks quietly addressed—at least temporarily—several high-profile issues affecting public and private health benefits. ...more
In August 2017, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care,” which became effective on January 1, 2018, and will remain on the books through the end of the 2019...more
In a November 20, 2017 post, we reported on Massachusetts’ passage of H. 3822, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care,” (the “Act”), the purpose of which is to shore up the finances of the...more
Pursuant to recently amended federal legislation, the Department of Labor (DOL), among several other federal agencies, is increasing its civil monetary penalties to adjust for inflation. Among the penalties to be increased...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published on July 1, 2016, an interim final rule adjusting the civil monetary penalties that it can enforce. These adjustments are the result of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation...more
On June 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an interim final rule that significantly increases various penalties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). The interim rule is the...more
Earlier this month, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (Commission) released a proposed rule, 1 TAC § 354.1452 that prohibits certain marketing activity by Medicaid and CHIP providers. The proposed rule has been...more
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously on legislation that would repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that has historically led to annual decreases in physician payments that are fixed at the...more