America’s cultural wars may be opening up a new front, and group health plans may be caught in the fray. Since the US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs ended almost fifty years of constitutional protection for abortion rights and gave states the authority to regulate abortion, lawmakers (or citizens) have either enacted new prohibitions on
Self-Insured Health Plans: Adjusted PCORI Fee Announced for 2024
As discussed in a previous blog, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonprofit research organization that funds comparative clinical research, among other things. PCORI is funded through annual fees — provided for in the Affordable Care Act — paid by insurers of fully insured health plans and sponsors of self-insured health
ACA Affordability Updated: Rev. Proc. 2023-29
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), applicable large employers (ALEs) — i.e., those with, on average, fifty (50) or more full-time or full-time-equivalent employees in the preceding year — must offer in the following year affordable, minimum value group health plan coverage to their full-time employees and those employees’ dependents or risk imposition of
Open Issue: Employer-Sponsored Health Plans and Coverage of Gender-Affirming Care
Transgender protections and rights in the workplace are currently the subject of much confusion. This issue extends to employer-sponsored health plans. Whether an employer-sponsored health plan must cover gender-affirming care is complicated and depends, in part, on whether the employer’s health plan is fully-insured or self-insured.
Fully-Insured Plans
Fully-insured employer-sponsored health plans are subject to
4th Quarter 2022 Quick Hits for Plan Sponsors and Administrators
As we enter the fourth quarter of 2022, sponsors and administrators of employee benefit plans have a lot to juggle. From open enrollment and required notices to plan document deadlines, it is a busy time of year. Yet, there always seems to be something new to add to the mix. This year is no different.
Self-Insured Health Plans: August 1st PCORI Fee Due Date is Rapidly Approaching
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (“PCORI”) is an independent nonprofit research organization that funds comparative clinical research, among other things. PCORI is funded through annual fees — provided for in the Affordable Care Act — paid by insurers of fully-insured health plans and sponsors of self-insured health plans, including health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) that are
Dealing With Undocumented Workers In ERISA Plans
Whether because of the tight U.S. labor market or flawed onboarding processes, many undocumented workers are becoming participants and accruing benefits in ERISA-governed employee benefit plans. Dealing with such plan participation adds yet another layer of administrative difficulty and legal exposure for employers who hire employees not authorized to work in the U.S.
ERISA does
Transparency in Coverage Enforcement
On April 19, 2022, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury issued additional guidance under the Transparency in Coverage Final Rules issued in 2020. The guidance, FAQs About Affordable Care Act Implementation Part 53, provides a safe harbor for disclosing in-network healthcare costs that cannot be expressed as a dollar
Do Employers Now Have to Offer Affordable Family Coverage?
In furtherance of the Biden Administration’s January 28, 2021, Executive Order 14009 and April 5, 2022, Executive Order 14070 to protect and strengthen the ACA, the Treasury Department and IRS published a proposed rule on April 7, 2022, advancing an alternative interpretation of Internal Revenue Code Section 36B. Employers can breathe a sigh of relief
New PCORI Fee Amounts Announced for the 2022 Reporting Period
The IRS just released IRS Notice 2022-04 that provides the updated fee for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) paid by fully insured and self-funded health plans for the upcoming tax reporting period.
As we stated before, even though the original PCORI fee assessments under the Affordable Care Act were scheduled to end after September