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 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
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
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
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
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
On June 30, in one of the most highly anticipated cases affecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Supreme Court ruled that closely held companies could assert a “religious objection” to the ACA contraceptive coverage...more
On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. et al., that the Affordable Care Act's "contraceptive mandate", as applied to "closely held corporations", violates the Religious Freedom...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of three for-profit corporations that claimed that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate to provide preventive care coverage for certain types of contraception violated the...more
On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case, holding that closely-held corporations could refuse to provide contraceptive coverage mandated by U.S....more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires certain employers to cover women’s preventive health care under their nongrandfathered group health plans at no cost to employees. The U.S. Department of Health...more
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby: Regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act required that employers provide coverage for 20 contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug...more
As has been widely covered in the news, regulations and guidance developed under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) require that non-grandfathered health plans make preventive care and screenings available to their members at no...more
In This Issue: - Top News ..Obama Administration Delays Employer Mandate One Year ..House Energy and Commerce Committee Releases Draft Legislation for SGR Fix ..CMS Proposes Payment Changes for Medicare...more
In Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. et al. v. Sebelius, et al.,1 an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and Mardel Inc., two for-profit corporations owned and operated by...more
The Obama administration announced yesterday it was delaying the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Employer Mandate, which requires employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide affordable health insurance to its employees...more
In This Issue: - Top News ..HHS Releases Hospital Pricing Data in Transparency Effort; Results Show Significant Variation ..States Divided on Medicaid Expansion ..CMS Issues FY 2014 Proposed Rules for...more