In 2017, the IRS released the 2018 inflation-adjusted figures for contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The contribution limits for HSAs associated with High Deductible Health Plans was increased to $3,450 for individuals with self-only coverage and to $6,900 for individuals with family coverage. In December, the President signed the tax reform bill commonly known … Continue Reading
As of October 2017, Health Care Still Uncertain. We already know the state of health care in the United States continues to whipsaw, as an October 25th ruling demonstrates: a federal district court confirmed that the Trump Administration need not fund the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) subsidies that offset insurance copays and deductibles for some … Continue Reading
The rise in insurance premiums for group health plans has prompted many employers to reexamine the decision whether to fund participant health benefits with insurance or self-fund benefits and limit their claims risk by purchasing stop-loss insurance. The increasing number of self-funded health plans in workplaces across the country has caused some confusion among employers … Continue Reading
We are aware that employers are being marketed various types of benefit arrangements designed to reduce the employer’s tax obligations by using a combination of wellness programs, voluntary benefits, and cafeteria plans. Not surprisingly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has taken interest in these designs and has provided guidance which may dampen the enthusiasm for … Continue Reading
The health savings account (“HSA”) has become, since its creation in 2003, an increasingly popular option for employers to subsidize employee group health costs. Employees with HSAs can save money, on a tax-free basis, for medical expenses that aren’t otherwise covered. The account’s interest earnings and distributions (for qualified medical expenses) are also tax-free. The … Continue Reading
Passed swiftly by Congress, the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 34) seeks to hasten cures for killer diseases, among other things. President Obama is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday, December 13. One of those other things would seem to advance a goal of the GOP’s plan for further healthcare reform, known as “A … Continue Reading
Many employers have begun receiving Health Insurance Marketplace notices – letters stating that a particular employee reported that he or she wasn’t offered affordable minimum value coverage for one or more months during 2016. The letter states that the employee has been determined to be eligible for subsidized Marketplace coverage. This means, if the employer … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed, ever so slightly, the ever-changing definition of “appropriate equitable relief” under ERISA Section 502(a)(3). In Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan,[1] the high court addressed whether a plan fiduciary can recover medical payments made on behalf of a participant when the plan … Continue Reading
With final ADA and GINA wellness program regulations expected this year from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 2016 looks to be an important year for regulation of these programs. However, program features like health risk assessments (HRAs) and biometric screenings have already become popular components of employer-sponsored health plans. In many cases, employers incentivize … Continue Reading
On December 9, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-87 [link below], which provides guidance on the application of the recent United States Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [link below] to qualified retirement and health and welfare plans. Prior to the 2013 SCOTUS decision in United States v. Windsor [link below], Section 3 of the … Continue Reading
As the calendar year comes to an end, group health plan sponsors must remember that if they took advantage of the ACA relief of IRS Notice 2014-55, amendments to their cafeteria plans by year end are needed. Notice 2014-55 was effective as of September 18, 2014, and it allowed participants to revoke a cafeteria plan … Continue Reading
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Federal Department of Labor plans to publish on November 18, 2015, new claims procedures for adjudicating disability benefits designed to enhance existing procedures for those benefits under Section 503 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). EBSA’s goal is to apply to disability benefits many of … Continue Reading
Last November, Melissa Ostrower wrote an excellent blog on the perils of employers reimbursing employees for health care premiums. (See: https://www.benefitslawadvisor.com/2014/11/articles/health-care-reform-legislation/premium-reimbursement-arrangements-employers-beware/) At the time of her article, the Department of Labor had just published a new FAQ which stated, in general, that where an employer provides cash reimbursements to employees for the purchase of an … Continue Reading
Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), larger employers have wondered about an auto-enrollment provision that the ACA added to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under that provision, employers that are subject to the FLSA and which employed more than 200 full-time employees would have been required to automatically enroll new full-time employees … Continue Reading
Five years ago, Chief Justice Roberts observed: “People make mistakes. Even administrators of ERISA plans.” Conkright v. Frommert, 559 U.S. 506, 509 (2010). Four years ago, searching for a mechanism to provide monetary relief for such mistakes under ERISA, the Supreme Court reached into the desiccated maw of early 19th century trust law and pulled … Continue Reading
One strategy for minimizing exposure to the employer shared responsibility penalties under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to minimize the number of “full-time employees” – that is, the number of employers working 30 or more hours per week on average. Employers can accomplish this through reducing the number of hours certain current and future … Continue Reading
Since April, employers have been mulling over proposed wellness program regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to address certain issues under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). We briefly summarized those proposed rules, and remind readers that there still is time to submit comments to the EEOC in order to seek clarity … Continue Reading
As you may already know, generally, each “applicable large employer” (see our article Health Care Reform: Employers Should Prepare Now for 2015 to Avoid Penalties to determine if you are an applicable large employer) is required to file information returns with the IRS (Form 1094-C) and provide statements to its employees (Form 1095-C) about the … Continue Reading
Today the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published long-awaited proposed regulations on wellness programs (Proposed Regs) that are intended to harmonize certain provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with long-standing rules concerning wellness programs applicable to group health plans under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and more recently, the Affordable … Continue Reading
The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) added section 4980I to the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”). Code section 4980I applies to tax years after December 31, 2017, and provides a tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage – if the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored coverage (referred to as “applicable coverage”) provided to an employee exceeds a statutory … Continue Reading
We reported in December 2014, that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said it was planning to issue proposed regulations (scheduled for February 2015) that would “promot[e] consistency between the ADA and HIPAA, as amended by the ACA,” and “clarify[] that employers who offer wellness programs are free to adopt a certain type of inducement … Continue Reading
Since filing multiple litigations against employers concerning their wellness programs, including seeking a temporary restraining order against Honeywell International, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has faced a significant amount of push back from many U.S. companies, their CEOs and other organizations. The reason … programs designed to be compliant with the wellness program rules … Continue Reading
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the 2014 deadline for reporting the number of participants covered under a health plan for purposes of paying the 2014 Transitional Reinsurance Fee has been extended from November 15, 2014 to December 5, 2014. Insurers and sponsors of self-insured plans who have not already … Continue Reading
As reported in our Disability, Leave & Health Management Blog, Judge Ann D. Montgomery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied the EEOC’s TRO request to immediately stop an employer, Honeywell, from implementing its wellness program, ruling that the EEOC did not establish that there would be irreparable harm. Judge Montgomery did … Continue Reading
