Medicare Part D Notices Are Due Before Oct. 15, 2024 Each year, Medicare Part D requires group health plan sponsors to disclose to individuals who are eligible for Medicare Part D and to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) whether the health plan’s prescription drug coverage is creditable. Plan sponsors must provide [...]
Health Plans: Preventive Care Coverage Requirements The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires non-grandfathered health plans and health insurance issuers to cover certain preventive health services without imposing cost-sharing requirements when the services are provided by in-network providers. These preventive health services include, for example, many cancer screenings, blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol tests, vaccinations [...]
Medicare Part D: Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notices Due Before Oct. 15 Employers with group health plans that provide prescription drug coverage must notify Medicare Part D eligible individuals before Oct. 15 of each year about whether the drug coverage is at least as good as the Medicare Part D coverage (in other words, whether [...]
DOL Releases Updated Model Employer CHIP Notice The Department of Labor (DOL), through its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), has released a new model Employer CHIP Notice with information current as of July 31, 2024. As a reminder, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) imposes an annual notice requirement on [...]
Doula Benefits Almost 50% of HR professionals plan to increase family health benefits in the next two to three years, according to virtual women and family clinic Maven’s 2024 State of Fertility & Family Benefits report. Furthermore, nearly 75% of employers acknowledged that family benefits are important to their current and prospective employees. It’s [...]
Federal District Court Blocks the FTC’s Noncompete Ban Employers may continue to rely on state-level guidance regarding the enforceability of noncompetes and monitor additional legal challenges, including a possible appeal by the FTC. On Aug. 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an order blocking the Federal Trade [...]
IRS Implementation Guidance on Qualified Student Loan Payment Match Programs On Aug. 19, 2024, the IRS issued Notice 2024-63, providing interim guidance for sponsors of 401(k) and similar retirement plans that provide or wish to provide matching contributions based on qualified student loan payments (QSLPs) made by their participating employees. Background The Consolidated Appropriations [...]
Recent and Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court Cases Employers Should Monitor In its 2023-24 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several consequential decisions that will likely have a significant impact on employers. These cases involved federal agency power, discrimination until Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), whistleblower retaliation and arbitration. The Supreme [...]
Report Finds Weight Loss Drugs Key Driver of 2025 Health Care Cost Increase A recent Business Group on Health (BGH) survey found that heightened interest and spending on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs is a major driver of rising health care costs in 2025. Americans’ interest in GLP-1 drugs is increasingly pressuring employers’ budgets. On [...]
Tracking Hours of Work for Remote Employees On Aug. 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-5 to remind employers of their obligation to accurately account for the number of hours their employees work away from the employer’s facilities. While the bulletin was issued in response to the [...]
