Once again, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury have issued guidance on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) required coverage of contraception without cost sharing, clarifying the permitted...more
On January 22, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (“Tri-Agencies”) issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (“ACA FAQs Part 64”) clarifying the contraceptive-related services that plans and...more
On January 30, 2023, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor (collectively “the Departments”) issued proposed rules entitled “Coverage of Certain Preventive Services under the Affordable Care Act”...more
The US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury (the Departments) recently issued a proposed rule (the proposed rule) to eliminate a moral exemption to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraceptive mandate...more
On July 28, 2022, in light of the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the United States Department of Labor (DOL), in conjunction with the Departments of Health and Human Services (“HHS”)...more
Employers can’t say they weren’t warned. For the second time in six months, frequently asked question (FAQ) guidance from federal regulators is calling attention to the requirement that employer-sponsored health...more
On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments over the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. This is the third case on the mandate to receive Supreme Court review....more
The Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) requires most health plans to provide first dollar coverage of FDA-approved contraception methods. Nearly nine years after the ACA’s enactment, this contraception mandate continues to be...more
On January 14, 2019, US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s carveouts to the...more
When Congressional drafters wrote the Affordable Care Act 10 years ago, they included a provision requiring group health plans to provide preventive care without cost sharing. Much of that coverage requirement was set forth...more
In back-to-back decisions, two federal district court judges have blocked implementation of a Trump administration rule that would exempt more employers from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued interim final rules on October 6, 2017, expanding exemptions to protect religious beliefs and moral convictions for certain entities and individuals whose health plans...more
Under the ACA, employers must provide plans that cover birth control and other preventative health services with no out-of-pocket costs. Certain religious employers with religious objections to providing contraceptive...more
On October 6, the Trump Administration issued two new interim final rules that significantly expand exemptions for employers to the ACA's requirements to provide free contraceptive coverage. The new regulations, effective...more
Last week the Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services (Departments) published rules exempting employers from the contraceptive coverage mandate created under the Affordable...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) just issued new rules which will limit the contraception coverage mandate covering employers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new rules, released Friday, expand the...more
CMS targets Medicaid managed care pass-through payments; California proposes “California Qualified Health Plans” for the undocumented; and a new study finds out-of-pocket costs were reduced by nearly a third for Medicaid...more
The decision by the United States Supreme Court on same-sex marriage has been greeted with praise and disdain by different corners of the country. The faith-based community has been especially outspoken. This is not...more
In a set of rules published last week, the government finalized a July 2010 interim final rule (“IFR”) related to coverage of certain preventive services and an August 2014 IFR regarding the definition of an eligible...more
The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury (collectively, the Departments) issued guidance in the form of FAQs on the ACA’s preventive services mandate. The ACA requires non-grandfathered...more
Religious institutions commonly make payments to or receive payments directly or indirectly from governmental agencies for services rendered; e.g., day cares that benefit from public scholarships, hospitals that participate...more
As we have been discussing, the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) requires all health plans to cover preventive health services for women, including all Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)-approved contraceptives, at no cost (i.e....more
Unless you have been living on another planet the past few weeks, you have probably heard that the United States Supreme Court rendered a decision in a case involving the arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby pertaining to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. that an existing contraceptive coverage mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act statute that applies to for-profit closely held corporations...more
On Monday, June 30, 2014, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “closely-held” for-profit companies could be exempt from the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) requirement to offer birth control coverage to their employees. As...more