Benefits Blast

While recent regulatory developments—including the Departments’ nonenforcement policy, proposed legislation, and new transparency rules—offer employers and plan fiduciaries greater flexibility and potential relief, they also underscore the need for continued vigilance. From ensuring compliance with longstanding MHPAEA obligations to evaluating benefit design changes, managing PBM relationships, and addressing nondiscrimination concerns in self-funded plans, stakeholders must stay proactive and informed to navigate the evolving health and welfare benefits landscape effectively.While recent regulatory developments—including the Departments’ nonenforcement policy, proposed legislation, and new transparency rules—offer employers and plan fiduciaries greater flexibility and potential relief, they also underscore the need for continued vigilance. From ensuring compliance with longstanding MHPAEA obligations to evaluating benefit design changes, managing PBM relationships, and addressing nondiscrimination concerns in self-funded plans, stakeholders must stay proactive and informed to navigate the evolving health and welfare benefits landscape effectively.

Effective January 15, 2025, the United States Department of Labor increased its ERISA health and welfare civil penalties for noncompliance. 

In the past few months, group health plans have experienced a surge of litigation challenging premium surcharges based on participants’ tobacco use.

The Internal Revenue Service recently published limits for 2025 in Revenue Procedure 2024-40. Below we have outlined health and welfare limits for 2025 and the changes in those limits from 2024.

As March 2023 comes to a close, a lot has happened with respect to health and welfare employee benefit plans. Below is a quick summary highlighting some of the changes.

On October 2, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar quietly announced that he has renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, effective October 23, 2020. This is the third extension of the public health emergency declaration.

The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury (collectively, the Departments) recently issued additional FAQ guidance regarding implementation of the health coverage provisions under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), and other health coverage issues related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

On May 1, 2020, the United States Department of Labor released new FAQs related to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The main focus of the FAQs was to provide new model notices that address COBRA’s interaction with Medicare.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has advised that adults age 65 and older are more vulnerable to developing serious complications from COVID-19. It is important that the senior population be able to access needed medical care, and timely enrolling in Medicare is particularly important for eligible individuals who don’t have other health insurance coverage.

My company may need to temporarily close or significantly reduce operations due to COVID‑19. What benefits-related issues should we consider?

Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act), group health plans and health insurance issuers are required to cover certain diagnostic testing and related treatment in connection with COVID-19. This mandate applies to health plans of all sizes, including fully-insured and self-insured group health plans, grandfathered health plans, individual health insurance, and specified public health care plans.

On March 18, 2020, the U.S. Senate voted 90-8 to pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, approving a revised version of the bill passed earlier in the week by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Due to the recent COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, several state insurance commissioners, including Oregon, California, New York, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington, have recently issued directives to insurance carriers operating in their states to waive health plan cost-sharing, such as co-payments, coinsurance, or deductibles, for in-network COVID-19 laboratory testing, and in some cases office visits and emergency room visits related to the illness.

During this episode of Winston & Strawn’s Benefits Blast Podcast, Employee Benefits Attorneys Joe Adams and Anne Becker talk about how smart employers are helping their employees address the challenges of student loan debt.

How do privacy and security laws affect employers? What do employers need to do protect themselves? During this episode of Winston & Strawn’s Benefits Blast Podcast, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Partner Steve Flores interviews Privacy & Data Security Of Counsel Alessandra Swanson on these important questions and many more. 

Do you know your ABC’s? The different acronyms associated with the various types of health plan accounts can be confusing. In this episode of Winston & Strawn’s Benefits Blast Podcast, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Partners Susan Nash and Amy Gordon provide an overview of the alphabet soup of health accounts.

Winston & Strawn is pleased to announce the launch of the Benefits Blast Podcast. During each episode, our attorneys will provide a brief update on innovations, trends, and developments in executive compensation and employee benefits law. Whether you’re a human resource professional, fiduciary, administrator, or on a board of directors, learn everything you need to know about health savings accounts, retirement plans, fringe benefits, telemedicine, and more. Our episodes will be brief, digestible, and published biweekly.

The Department of Labor (Department) recently released its 2019 inflation-adjusted penalties for benefits-related violations. Legislation adopted in 2015 requires adjustments to specific Department civil monetary penalties by January 15 of each year.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made direct changes to employer’s compensation deductions, but also made changes to individual taxation which has an indirect effect on employment. This blog describes some employer strategies which can make 2019 a more tax favorable year for the employer, for the employee, or for both.

The Affordable Care Act was struck down in its entirety by a Texas district court judge in a case that is likely to wind up in the Supreme Court of the United States and potentially serve as a catalyst for further legislative action in the area of health care reform.