Benefits - ACA

King v. Burwell challenges the implementation of federal insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again ruled in favor of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At issue in King. v. Burwell was whether the landmark legislation allows federal subsidies to be given to low-income consumers residing in the 34 states that did not set up their own health insurance Exchange. In

In the 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court held subsidies available to Exchange enrollees under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) are available regardless of whether coverage is purchased through state-based or federal Exchanges. This means that individuals who get their health insurance through an Exchang

An important provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a new target for repeal. On April 28, 2015, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) introduced legislation (H.R. 2050) to eliminate the 40% excise tax on high-premium "Cadillac" health insurance plans. Set to take effect in 2018, the tax will apply to plan

In a message vote, the Republican-led House of Representatives elected to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. The move is considered symbolic, as the Senate lacks the 60 votes needed to avoid an almost certain filibuster, and the President has vowed to veto any repeal measure. The final

During the first employment-related hearing conducted by the new Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), Senators and panelists debated whether the Affordable Care Act's definition of "full-time" employment should be amended. Under the healthcare law’s employer responsibili

Continuing its efforts to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, the House of Representatives on Monday voted 401-0 to exempt emergency service volunteers from the 50-employee threshold triggering the healthcare law's pay-or-play mandate. Last week, the House unanimously approved a similar measure ex

Executive Summary: Effective January 1, 2015, certain employers became subject to the employer mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and thus subject to liability under the ACA Employer Shared Responsibility provisions. Specifically, effective January 1, 2015, employers wi

On Thursday, the House of Representatives readily approved by a vote of 252-172 the Save American Workers Act of 2015 (H.R. 30), a bill that would increase from 30 to 40 the number of hours an employee must work per week to be considered "full-time" under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). How many empl

As expected, the 114th Congress began its term by attacking provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015 (H.R. 22), a bill that would exempt employees covered under TRICARE or other health insuran

On December 19, 2014, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury published proposed regulations that would treat certain limited health coverage that wraps around eligible individual health insurance or multi-state plan coverage offered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Man

Since its enactment in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has generated debate and questions about the law's impact on third-party staffing arrangements. With the effective date of the ACA's "pay-or-play" employer mandate just weeks away for many employers, confusion still exists about how "staffin

For many employers, the effective date of the Affordable Care Act's "play-or-pay" mandate is only weeks away. The impending deadline comes amid questions about the future—and perhaps viability—of the law itself. Entering 2015, the ACA faces challenges both in a new Republican-controlled Congress and

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the issue of whether the IRS has the authority, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to extend tax credits to consumers shopping on the federal Marketplaces.

On November 4, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance (Notice 2014-69) clarifying that certain group health plans that do not provide for hospitalization services or physician services or both will fail to satisfy the minimum value requirements for purposes of the employer mandat

On August 28, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released draft instructions for completing health insurance reporting forms required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The release of the instructions comes a month after the IRS released the draft forms employers and insurers must use to report in

On August 27, 2014, new interim final regulations were published by several administrative agencies entitled "Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act." On the same day, the agencies released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the same title. As we have previously writ

In 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder and Former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius created an interagency task force, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to increase coordination and optimize criminal and civil enforcement. Acco

The Affordable Care Act ("ACA") and its regulations have been incorporated into the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Code, as amended, and guidance has been issued by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner to such effect. The Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), however, has recently clarifi

On July 24, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released draft forms that employers will use to report on health coverage that they offer to their employees. In March, the IRS issued final rules implementing the health coverage reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The inf