READ TIME: 7 MINUTES In May, employers sponsoring self-funded medical plans or an applicable HRA began preparing to submit the PCORI fee, due July 31. The IRS released inflation-adjusted amounts for 2025 HSAs, EBHRAs, and HDHPs. The ACA Section 1557 nondiscrimination regulations were finalized, broadening the definition of impacted entities. The Medical Debt Cancellation Act […]
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April 2024 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 7 MINUTES In April, a ban went into effect for most non-compete clauses, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) portal opened for RxDC reporting submissions due June 1, 2024. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released final regulations mandating how employers with 15 or more employees must handle accommodation requests […]
Read moreGroup Health Plan Guide to COBRA
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits due to job loss, reduction in hours, death, divorce, and other life events the right to choose to temporarily continue health benefits provided by their group health plan. This guide includes: Employers required to offer COBRA Plan types […]
Read moreMarch 2024 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 7 MINUTES ACA reporting is in its first year of the required electronic reporting for employers filing ten or more returns annually. Employers and employees must make changes to HSAs by the April 15 deadline. Employers of all sizes continued to prepare for the June 1 RxDC Reporting using the newly released instructions. […]
Read moreDOL Announces 2024 Penalties for Benefit Plan Compliance Errors
READ TIME: 5 MINUTES Since 2015, federal agencies have been required to annually review the laws and regulations they enforce to adjust applicable penalties for inflation. These adjustments, or so the theory goes, provide higher incentives for plan sponsors to ensure their benefit plans and programs remain compliant. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) […]
Read moreFebruary 2024 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 7 MINUTES February saw a potential industry-changing lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and its plan fiduciaries asserting a breach of fiduciary duties and mismanagement of Johnson & Johnson’s prescription drug benefits program, costing its ERISA plans and employees millions of dollars in the form of higher payments for prescription drugs, as well as […]
Read moreHHS Releases Updated Drug Data Collection Reporting Instructions in Advance of June 1, 2024, Deadline
Under Section 204 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), referred to as “The No Surprises Act” (NSA), all employer-sponsored health plans must satisfy certain transparency requirements by reporting annual prescription drug and health care spending data (often referred to as the Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) report). The RxDC report is not only about […]
Read moreJanuary 2024 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 7 MINUTES January was a relatively quiet month on the employee benefits compliance front. The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) introduced a new rule laying out the guidelines employers can follow to determine how to classify workers. The DOL also released Part 64 of its FAQs about Affordable […]
Read moreDecember 2023 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 8 MINUTES December provided employers an opportunity to review year-end compliance to prepare for the new year. Employers confirmed that their worksite posters are appropriate for the type of business, number of employees, and state, and are the most recent version. Employers who are applicable large employers (ALEs) must be aware of potential […]
Read moreNovember 2023 Compliance Recap
READ TIME: 7 MINUTES November brought an FAQ from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury ensuring that SBCs and claims and appeals notices are available when more than 10 percent of the population is literate only in a specific non-English language. UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefit manager announced $35 insulin price caps, […]
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