Benefits - ACA

On New Year’s Eve 2013, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor—who acts as the “Circuit Justice” to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit —temporarily enjoined the imposition of a federal mandate that certain religious employers either (1) provide insurance coverage including birth control t

The government is divided, congressional midterm elections are looming, and the President is approaching "lame duck" status. Although this political landscape may lead employers to assume that 2014 will be a quiet year on the legislative and regulatory front, the year ahead is shaping up to bring si

Executive Summary: The Department of Treasury has posted a statement on its blog indicating that the volunteer hours of volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical personnel do not need to be included in determining whether the employer meets the 50 employee threshold for the Affordable C

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued the latest in its series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) implementation. The latest guidance (Part XVIII) addresses questions on coverage of preventive services and limitatio

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that it will delay online enrollment in the federal Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchange for one year, until the open enrollment period for 2015, which begins November 2014. Administration officials stated that the

With much of the focus on the federal healthcare law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and other federal initiatives (or the lack thereof due to political constraints in Congress), it is often all too easy for employers operating in multiple states to overlook the need to familiarize

Senators John Thune (R-SD), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Orrin Hatch (R- UT) introduced a bill (S. 1724) yesterday that would prevent the administration from exempting multi-employer health plans from a $63 reinsurance fee the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impose on each enrollee in self-funded and f

In the wake of a political firestorm brewing around cancelations of individual health insurance policies, last week President Obama announced a rule change that would potentially allow some individuals to remain on their current health insurance policy for an additional year. The White House “fix” a

We previously described and analyzed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s en banc decision in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. et al. v. Sebelius, No. 12-6294 (10th Cir. June 27, 2013), which held that for-profit religious employers possessed standing under the Religious Freedom and Restoration

Executive Summary: On November 14, 2013, the Obama Administration announced a transitional policy, whereby insurers may, but are not required to, renew existing health plans in the individual and small-group markets in 2014, even if those plans do not meet the market reforms and plan design requirem

In the recently released Notice 2013-71, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) modified the rules for flexible spending accounts (FSAs). As previously applied, the rules did not allow for carryover of employee salary reduction contributions, otherwise known as the “use-or-lose” rule. The Notice permits

The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have released final rules implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), which requires parity between mental health or substance use disorder benefits and medical/sur

Executive Summary: Earlier this year, the Obama Administration delayed implementation of the employer mandate, a major provision of the 2010 health care reform law (the Affordable Care Act or "ACA"). The delay of the employer mandate, however, did not impact other provisions of the ACA, many of whic

On November 1, key House lawmakers sent a letter to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, requesting information on Affordable Care Act funding of so-called “worker centers.” Worker centers, also known as Union Front Organizations (UFOs), are typically non-profit organiz

Over the course of a hearing lasting more than three hours, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius fielded questions, complaints, and some praise from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the Affordable Care Act’s implementation. Sebelius readily

While the federal government remained on shutdown mode, the House Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Health and Technology held a hearing on Wednesday to discuss how the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) definition of “full-time employee” will impact small businesses. Under the healthcare law’s emp

Although the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) "employer mandate" has been delayed until 2015, health insurance exchanges are still scheduled to start offering health coverage to individuals and employees of small businesses starting January 1, 2014. Open enrollment in these Health Insurance Marketplaces

In a move that is likely to deepen labor’s disenchantment with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama administration on Friday rejected some union leaders’ call to apply certain ACA tax subsidies to participants in multi-employer health plans. On Wednesday, delegates to the AFL-CIO conference adop

The coming implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may result in unintended consequences at the state level in reference to worker’s compensation designs and regulations.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its final rule governing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) shared responsibility provision requiring most individuals to obtain minimal essential health coverage or pay a penalty, commonly referred to as the individual mandate. Although the employer mandate ha