Search Blog
Subscribe Today
About this Blog
Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer Benefits Blog. We will be posting about current employee benefits and executive compensation topics and issues. We invite you to contact the authors with your thoughts or questions.Blog Contributors
Topics
Useful Websites
Authorized Representatives – Fresh Look at an Old Rule
Earlier this year, the Department of Labor issued an information letter explaining ERISA’s authorized representative requirement. Below are some of the takeaways employers may want to consider.
1. The Authorized Representative Requirement Under ERISA
ERISA’s claims procedure regulations expressly give participants and beneficiaries the right to appoint authorized representatives to act on their behalf in connection with a claim for benefits and an appeal of an adverse benefit determination. Furthermore, when a claimant clearly designates an authorized representative to assist with a claim and/or appeal, the plan should direct the claimant’s information and notifications to the authorized representative to act on behalf of the claimant. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged appeals, authorized representative, claims, DOL, ERISA, health plan
Share this Article:
Reassigning Section 1557: Trump Administration Proposes Reversal of Transgender Benefits Rule
In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights issued final regulations implementing the nondiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”), which prohibit the categorical refusal of health coverage to transgender participants and require that individuals be treated consistent with their self-selected gender identity. These regulations drew sustained legal challenges and prompted HHS to withdraw, revise and reissue the Section 1557 regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”).
In short, the Proposed Regulations would repeal large portions of the original nondiscrimination rules and would redefine the scope of various protections under Section 1557. Specifically, the Proposed Regulations negate the provisions of Section 1557 covering nondiscrimination based on sex and gender identity. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 1557, ACA, EEOC, HHS, transgender, transgender benefits, Trump
Share this Article:
IRS Letters 226J: Having the Right Section 4980H Records Can Be Worth a Small Fortune
As reported in our 2018 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare, the Section 4980H penalties are still in effect and the IRS is enforcing them. Employers continue to receive Letters 226J, which the IRS uses to propose employer shared responsibility payments. During the Letter 226J process, the IRS has been allowing employers to challenge proposed penalties and to correct reporting errors. However, the IRS will not necessarily accept an employer’s word at face value.
Recordkeeping is key
One of the biggest problems employers may face is finding records to prove they satisfied the 95% offer of coverage test (to avoid the subsection (a) penalty) or that they offered a specified employee minimum value affordable coverage (to avoid the subsection (b) penalty). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 4980H, ACA, Affordable Care Act, Form 1094-C, Form 1095-c, IRS, letter 226j, recordkeeper, vendor
Share this Article:
HHS to Start Randomly Selecting Health Plans for HIPAA Compliance – Are You Ready?
The CMS Division of National Standards, on behalf of HHS, is launching the Compliance Review Program (the “Program”) to ensure compliance among covered entities with HIPAA Administrative Simplification rules for electronic health care transactions. HHS will randomly select health plans and clearinghouses to assess compliance with: (1) transaction formats; (2) code sets; and (3) unique identifiers. Participants in the Program will also have to attest whether they comply with the operating rules, which are required by the ACA and are defined as “the necessary business rules and guidelines for the electronic exchange of information that are not defined by a standard or its implementation specifications.”
If HHS finds that a health plan or clearinghouse is not compliant, HHS has indicated that it will give the covered entity the opportunity to correct issues and achieve compliance, but may impose penalties on covered entities that do not achieve compliance. Read More ›
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged audit, Breach Notification, CMS, HHS, HIPAA, Privacy, Security
Share this Article:
Arizona’s New Mini-COBRA Statute Has Arrived, but Is Preemption a Concern?
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) requires employers who have 20 or more employees and who offer a group health insurance plan to provide enrollees with a right to continue coverage after the occurrence of certain qualifying events. Effective January 1, 2019, Section 20-2330 of the Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) seeks to extend a similar right to Arizona employees of “small employers” who have at least 1 but not more than 20 employees. The new rule applies to insured health benefit plans issued or renewed after December 31, 2018. Self-insured health benefit plans are exempt from Section 20-2330. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged Arizona, COBRA, mini-COBRA, small employers
Share this Article:
Seeing the Big Picture – How Proposed Health Reimbursement Arrangements Might Harmonize with Existing Law
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 proposed regulations – and the HRAs that they would permit if finalized – can be found in our November 7, 2018, blog, “Zombie Benefits – Are Health Reimbursement Arrangements Back from the Dead?”
As an addendum to the proposed regulations, the IRS published Notice 2018-88, which considers the interaction of the new HRAs with the employer shared responsibility mandate set out in Code Section 4980H and the non-discrimination rules contained in Code Section 105(h). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 2018-88, 4980H, ACA, HRA, IRS, Notice
Share this Article:
Wilderness Therapy – Should We Give It Another Look?
1. What is it?
Wilderness therapy generally is traditional therapy in an outdoor setting that seeks to treat young adults with behavioral or substance use disorders. Some programs are licensed and accredited and the treatment they provide can be expensive. It is not uncommon for wilderness therapy to cost $500 per day or over $40,000 in total.
2. Why should you care?
A participant in your employer-sponsored group health plan might submit a claim for wilderness therapy or request that your plan cover it. If the terms of your plan exclude wilderness therapy or are ambiguous with respect to its coverage, and if you choose not to cover it, the participant might argue that your plan violates the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) and the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) (collectively, “Federal Mental Health Parity Law”). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged litigation, Mental Health Parity, NQTL, therapy, wilderness
Share this Article:
Texas Judge Declares the Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional – What’s Next?
As reported in our “2018 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare,” the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the individual mandate, which spawned a lawsuit challenging the whole of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Texas in February 2018 by the Texas and Wisconsin Attorneys General, leading a 20-state coalition, alleged that because the repeal of the individual mandate “renders legally impossible the Supreme Court’s prior savings construction of the Affordable Care Act’s core provision – the individual mandate – the Court should hold that all of the ACA is unlawful and enjoin its operations.” The plaintiffs argued that not only is the individual mandate now unlawful, but also that this core provision is not severable from the rest of the ACA. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 226J, 4980H, ACA, Affordable Care Act, repeal
Share this Article:
A Holiday Surprise – IRS Extends Certain ACA Reporting Deadlines and Transition Relief
The IRS delivered welcome news to employers preparing to meet the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) information reporting deadlines in early 2019 for the 2018 calendar year. In Notice 2018-94 (the “Notice”), the IRS extended the employer’s deadline to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to employees. The new deadlines are provided below.
| Original Distribution Deadline | Extended Distribution Deadline | |
| Form 1095-B (to employees) | January 31, 2019 | March 4, 2019 |
| Form 1095-C (to employees) | January 31, 2019 | March 4, 2019 |
It is important to note that the Notice does not extend the deadline for filing Forms with the IRS. The deadline to file with the IRS remains February 28, 2019 (for paper filings) and April 1, 2019 (for electronic filings). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 4980H, ACA, extension, reporting
Share this Article:
Reminder for SBCs – Yes, Please!
The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that group health plans provide summaries of benefits and coverage (“SBCs”) to applicants and enrollees at various times is not new. Nevertheless, because of the steep penalties for noncompliance (i.e., $1,000 per failure with respect to each participant or beneficiary and an excise tax of $100 per day with respect to each individual to whom such failure relates) we think it’s worthy of another blog post. See our July 19, 2012 Newsletter Summary of Benefits and Coverage for Group Health Plans and follow-up August 11, 2016 blog post Departments Finally Publish Updated SBC Template and Instructions for additional background information. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged ACA, SBC, summary of benefits and coverage
Share this Article: