The Department of Labor recently issued a proposed rule that allows certain retirement plan disclosures to be posted online, rather than requiring such disclosures to be printed and mailed. The Department of Labor anticipates this rule, if finalized, would save plan sponsors $2.4 billion over the next ten years. The rule is currently in proposed […]
California recently approved Assembly Bill 1554, adding a flexible spending account notice requirement to § 2810.7 of the California Labor Code. The new law, which takes effect January 1, 2020, states: (a) An employer shall notify an employee who participates in a flexible spending account, including, but not limited to, a dependent care flexible spending […]
What is the Annual Maximum Out-Of-Pocket Limit (“MOOP”)? MOOP is the most a participant must pay for covered services under a group health plan in a plan year. After a participant spends this amount on deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance, the health plan must pay 100% of the costs of covered benefits. What are Drug Manufacturers’ […]
On October 29, 2018, proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register that would permit employers to offer two new types of health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) that align with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). The proposed HRAs are designed to expand the availability of account-based group health plans. A summary of […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) issued final rules, published in the Federal Register on December 20, 2018, that remove the 30% incentive provisions from the EEOC’s wellness program regulations governing the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). The final rules are effective January 1, 2019. As a […]
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently released guidance that contains two updated safe harbor notices that retirement plans may use to satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) to provide an advance notice to a participant prior to the date on which the participant receives a distribution that meets the requirements for […]
In recent months, we have written a fair amount about providing transgender benefits in light of the nondiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Our blogs of March 30, 2016 and June 22, 2016 highlight the key contours of the nondiscrimination rule. In our June 22 post, we mention in passing that the final nondiscrimination […]
Take a deep breath. The HHS Health Insurance Marketplace Notice (the “Notice”) may seem to be a nuisance, but it does not necessarily mean that you will be subject to employer shared responsibility penalties. First, the IRS, not HHS, assesses employer shared responsibility penalties, and the IRS does so only after it provides employers with: […]
