Health Reform
Feds Set to Delay March 1 Employer Notice Deadline, on Exchanges
The federal health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) imposes an obligation on employers to notify all employees by March 1, 2013, about the existence of the state-based insurance exchanges required by the PPACA, and about the value of...
Massachusetts Introduces Legislation to Eliminate Employer Fair Share Contribution
On January 8, 2013, Governor Deval Patrick proposed legislation that will eliminate the penalties certain employers face, under state law, for not offering health insurance coverage to their employees in Massachusetts. The legislation would eliminate the...
Crisis Averted…or Merely Postponed? – The Fiscal Cliff Deal and What It Means for Employer Benefit Plans
President Obama signed into law on Wednesday the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, a last minute compromise by federal lawmakers that pulled the nation away from the “fiscal cliff.” The law makes permanent numerous federal tax provisions scheduled to expire on...
IRS Offers First Proposed Regulations on “Play or Pay;” Mostly Good News, but Much Complexity
The IRS has released its first set of formal, proposed regulations, and a parallel set of questions and answers, on the health reform law’s “play or pay” mandate on employers. Lockton is preparing two separate Alerts to address the 144 pages of regulations, but here’s...
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Same-Sex Marriage Cases in 2013
On Friday, December 7, 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a case concerning the 2008 ballot measure in California that banned same-sex marriage. The cases will be heard by the Court in...
HEALTH REFORM GUIDANCE: A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT
Federal health reform guidance released over the past few weeks covered an abundance of topics, some of which impacted employers. In this Alert Mark Holloway, J.D. from the Lockton Health Reform Advisory Practice breaks them all down for you, including an...
Skirmishing Continues in the Battle Over Contraception Benefits
The battle over the Obama Administration’s directive that non-grandfathered (under federal health reform) health plans supply cost-free contraception benefits for female enrollees continues to heat up. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. filed suit last week in a federal court,...
States Continue Trend of Trolling for Cash from Group Plan Sponsors…with a Boost from the Courts
Last year, Michigan followed the lead of several other states (e.g., New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont) and levied a one percent tax on the value of all claims paid by every insurance carrier and third party administrator for medical care rendered in Michigan to a...
Federal Appellate Court: Employer’s Surcharge on Employees Who Decline a Biometric Screen is Not an ADA Violation
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Alabama, Florida, and Georgia) has upheld a lower court ruling that an employer wellness program, which imposed a $20 per paycheck surcharge on health insurance premiums for employees declining to submit to a health...
New Guidance on Exemptions from Contraceptive Coverage Requirements
On August 15, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidance on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (PPACA’s) requirement that non-grandfathered group health plans must offer contraceptive coverage without cost-sharing. The...
DOL Self-Compliance Checklist for HIPAA and Other Health Care Laws
The DOL has posted on its website a 38-page self-compliance checklist that covers several of the major laws that apply to employer group health plans. The Self-Compliance Tool is located at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/CAGAppA.pdf The checklist includes questions on...
Obesity Screening and Counseling for Adults Added to Preventive Services List for Non-Grandfathered Plans
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended health plans screen adults age 18 and older for obesity and offer “intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions” for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. In 2005, the Task Force made a...
Much to do and not a lotta time…
Well, after digesting the entire Supreme Court decision, Lockton expert Ed Fensholt, JD summed it up this way in his latest Health Reform Advisory Alert: Largely, not much has changed. Still much to do, and not much time to do it. He also had these thoughts to share,...
Mandate Upheld: It was a Razor-Close Decision
You have seen the headlines, and you may have even expected the result, but did you expect the reasoning? Today the Supreme Court concluded that the individual mandate cannot be justified under the Constitution's Commerce Clause, but that the individual mandate...
Fensholt testifies to House subcommittee: “Health reform law has both challenges and strengths”
In Washington, when they want to get a read on what employers are thinking about health reform, they call employers...AND they call Lockton Benefit Group experts. Multiple times since the health reform law passed in 2010, Lockton executives have testified, and late in...