President Trump signed into law a nearly $1.4 trillion spending package that avoided a government shutdown and will fund the government through September 30, 2020. The year-end spending package, signed December 20, 2019, contains a number of retirement and health and welfare provisions that will be of interest to employers and other plans sponsors and [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Congressional agreement that reopened the federal government for three weeks quietly addressed—at least temporarily—several high-profile issues affecting public and private health benefits. Most significantly, the new appropriations act: Delays the effective date of the so-called Cadillac Tax by two years to 2022. This Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision imposes a 40 percent tax on [&hellip… Continue Reading »
After a brief lull in activity, recent developments are likely to involve all three branches of government in addressing issues under the Affordable Care Act. The Legislature: It is often said that Congress rarely takes action until a crisis needs to be addressed. With the demise of this summer’s repeal and replace effort, initiatives to [&hellip… Continue Reading »
In the first significant congressional modification of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since its passage, the notorious “Cadillac tax” on high-cost employer health plans has been delayed two years, from 2018 to 2020. The delay is included in the omnibus spending and tax extenders bills President Obama signed on December 22. Delay of the Cadillac [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new notice addressing issues relating to future rules governing the calculation and payment of the so-called “Cadillac tax” under the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2018, the ACA will impose a 40 percent nondeductible excise tax on the value of group health coverage that exceeds a baseline amount [&hellip… Continue Reading »
Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service issued preliminary but much-anticipated guidance on the so-called Cadillac tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new notice offers very few concrete answers to employer questions about how the tax is to be calculated. Mostly, the IRS identifies issues that may be the subject of future proposed regulations, [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued an updated version of IRS Form 720 and the instructions. Self-funded group health plan sponsors and health insurers must use this form to report and pay the fee required to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA established PCORI to collect and [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has published proposed regulations that provide guidance on how an employer may determine whether its group health plan provides “minimum value.” This determination is important because a large employer (generally speaking, with 50 or more full-time employees) faces a $3,000 annual penalty (under Code section 4980H(b)) with respect to each [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published final regulations that will enable plan sponsors and insurers to calculate their liability under the transitional reinsurance fee provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2014 (and continuing for 2015 and 2016), employers and other sponsors of self-funded health plans, as well [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations on the annual fee that health insurance companies must pay under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). To fund certain health care reform initiatives, the ACA requires health insurers to pay an aggregate fee of $8 billion in 2014 and larger amounts in subsequent years. The burden is to [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have issued additional guidance on the Affordable Care Act. The guidance primarily takes the form of a new set of frequently asked questions(FAQs). The new FAQs address a variety of subjects, including: Postponement of the March 1, 2013, effective date to begin distributing [&hellip… Continue Reading »
In regulations and other pronouncements issued toward the end of 2012, the government has provided further details on new taxes and fees introduced by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Health plan sponsors will be particularly interested in the amounts that they will be assessed to fund various ACA programs. This guidance includes: Regulations, a fact [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final regulations and other guidance on the excise tax applicable to the sale of certain medical devices under the Affordable Care Act. Beginning January 1, 2013, a tax of 2.3 percent is imposed on the sale, use, lease, or license of all medical devices by manufacturers and importers. In the [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and charged it with synthesizing and disseminating comparative clinical effectiveness research findings to help patients, clinicians, purchasers, and policymakers make informed health decisions. To fund this Institute, the ACA requires health insurers and self-funded group health plan sponsors to pay a fee for each [&hellip… Continue Reading »
Following up on guidance issued last month, the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed two new sets of regulations and the Department of the Treasury has proposed one on the state-based health insurance marketplaces known as Affordable Insurance Exchanges. (To view our alert on the earlier guidance, click here.) The Patient Protection and [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed two sets of regulations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the 2010 health care reform legislation) relating to changes that will take effect in 2014. Although the new rules focus principally on what states must do to meet health care reform requirements, health [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The three federal agencies that have published regulations on health care reform provisions (U.S. Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services) have furnished additional guidance on certain issues of particular importance to employers and other group health plan sponsors. A new set of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers addresses specific questions that many [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The IRS has issued a notice explaining provisions in the recently enacted health care reform legislation that establish a federal income tax credit for small employers who implement or maintain health insurance coverage for employees. The notice clarifies various aspects of the new rules, including the following: To qualify for the full tax credit, an [&hellip… Continue Reading »
In the first of what promises to be an ongoing series of tri-agency regulations, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury have issued rules on one of the most controversial provisions in the health care reform legislation―the extension of coverage for children up to age 26. The guidance clarifies several key [&hellip… Continue Reading »
Today the IRS issued the first installment of what is expected to be an avalanche of guidance on the new health care reform law. The guidance confirms that an employer-sponsored health plan may provide coverage free from federal income tax to an employee’s children up to age 27. This exclusion applies regardless of whether the [&hellip… Continue Reading »
The newly enacted health care reform bill has fueled numerous questions by employers seeking direction on arguably the most important workplace decisions they will make in the next few years. Employers need to understand the issues and recognize the decision points and their ramifications. Jean C. Hemphill and Brian M. Pinheiro have identified frequently asked [&hellip… Continue Reading »
