The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) generally requires that the financial requirements and treatment limitations that apply to mental health and substance use disorder (“MH/SUD”) benefits cannot be more restrictive than the financial requirements and treatment limitations that apply to medical and surgical (“M/S”) benefits. Financial requirements include, for example, […]
As reported in our April 18th blog, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) officially delayed the applicability of the Fiduciary Rule for 60 days, until June 9, 2017. Given the multiple delays leading up to the proposed June 9th date and President Trump’s February 3rd executive memorandum calling for a full examination of the impact of […]
On April 7, 2017, the DOL published a final rule, officially delaying the applicability of the Fiduciary Rule for 60 days, until June 9, 2017. The DOL noted that a full review of the Fiduciary Rule and its impact is likely to take longer than 60 days. However, the DOL expressed reservations about providing a […]
As we previously reported in our February 16, 2017 blog post, “A Rule Deferred: Department of Labor Delays Implementation of Fiduciary Rule,” the DOL anticipated delaying the effective date of the fiduciary rule by 180 days. However, on March 1, 2017, the DOL proposed to delay the fiduciary rule by 60 days, citing the potentially […]
On January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal,” hereinafter referred to as the “Order”) relating to the future of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The stated goal is to direct the agencies (IRS, HHS, and DOL) to waive or […]
On April 6, 2016, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued an updated Summary of Benefits and Coverage (“SBC”) template. The latest template represents an effort by the Departments to enhance consumer access to information regarding their health care options. Although the new template is shorter than the prior […]
As we previously discussed in our May 19, 2016 SW Benefits Update, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final regulations on fiduciary conflicts of interest in retirement programs. Since 2010 when the DOL first proposed regulations addressing self-interested advice to retirement plan and IRA participants, the rule has been widely criticized by some in […]
DOL health and welfare plan investigations are on the rise. There are best practices for plans chosen for investigation: 1. Get Employee Benefits Counsel Involved Early. The DOL investigation process generally starts with a letter from DOL requesting a long list of documents that range from plan documents and disclosures to financial documents (e.g., trust […]
In a previous blog, I wrote about regulations issued by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) proposing to revise the regulatory definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to be based on the law of the place where a marriage was performed, which is known as the “state of celebration” standard. The […]
The Department of Labor recently issued final regulations implementing the annual funding notice that defined benefit plans are required to provide under Section 101(f) of ERISA. The final regulations are similar to the proposed regulations and the guidance issued in Field Assistance Bulletin 2009-01 and Field Assistance Bulletin 2013-01. Generally, administrators of defined benefit plans […]
