Headlines about "Health plan admin - misc"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
[Guidance Overview] Towers Perrin Monthly Regulatory Round-Up: Health & Welfare (PDF)
Excerpt: "The Monthly Regulatory Round-Up is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during the past month that may be relevant to large employers." (Towers Perrin)

Small Business Employees Are 50% More Likely To Lose Health Care Coverage
Excerpt: "Employees of small businesses are 50% more likely to lose coverage as workers at large businesses, according to a recent report released jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). In addition, the report, Insurance at Risk: Small Business Employees Risk Losing Coverage, found that half of workers in small firms that do not offer health benefits remain uninsured." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

[Guidance Overview] 2009 Year-End Health and Welfare Issues
Excerpt: "2009 is quickly coming to a close and health and welfare plan sponsors should address several recent legal developments and ongoing compliance requirements before year-end. In particular, calendar year plans should be amended (and SPDs updated) to reflect the new requirements that will be effective January 1, 2010, including Michelle's Law, expanded mental health parity requirements and GINA. Plan Sponsors should also ensure that plan changes needed for CHIPRA and the COBRA subsidy are implemented and documented." (DrinkerBiddle)

[Guidance Overview] Defensive ERISA Preemption Inadequate To Sustain Removal Of Subrogation Dispute
Excerpt: "In this opinion, the district court holds that the group health insurer improperly removed the reimbursement dispute to federal court. In its opinion the court provides perspective on complete versus conflict preemption in the context of ERISA plan reimbursement claims." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy Harmon III)

[Guidance Overview] Required Health Plan Annual Notices ? 2009 Edition
Excerpt: "As benefit and open enrollment planning begins for many organizations each fall, it should be remembered that there are a number of annual health plan notices that must be sent to plan participants each year. Below is a list of notices to keep in mind, and ensure that they are sent as necessary:" (Kushner & Company, Inc.)

[Guidance Overview] COBRA Subsidy for Jobless Expires Soon
Excerpt: "If you are laid off in November or December, you still qualify for the subsidy for up to nine months. But come January, unless Congress extends the program, you are out of luck. So if you receive the bad news of a pink slip anytime soon, aim for your end date to be in the 2009 calendar year, and not 2010." (CNNMoney.com)

[Guidance Overview] GINA Interim Final Regulations Issued; Wellness Programs Impacted (PDF)
Excerpt: "The interim regulations are effective for plan years beginning on or after December 7, 2009 (i.e., a group health plan with a calendar year will need to comply with these interim regulations beginning January 1, 2010). Employers will need to quickly evaluate how these new interim regulations will impact their wellness programs -- particularly the design and use of health risk assessments." (Trucker Huss)

[Guidance Overview] A Primer On Venue Choice In ERISA Claim Disputes
Excerpt: "This district court opinion features an ample discussion of an important preliminary issue that is often taken for granted -- choice of venue. One of the advantages of modern medical advances has been the proliferation of centers of excellence for various diseases. On the other hand, access to these facilities often requires travel. What factors should a court take into account in determining proper venue in a dispute over benefit payment? The Court in Schoonmaker reviews this question in considerable detail." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy Harmon III)

[Opinion] Medical Tourism: Outsourcing Your Health
Excerpt: "Pitching lower costs, 'international hospitals' are trying to make inroads into the U.S. healthcare system. But are they just a remedy for insurance companies?" (Los Angeles Times via Consumer Watchdog)

[Guidance Overview] Employer Health Risk Assessments & Wellness Programs -- Still Viable?
Excerpt: "The last few months have seen significant inroads into the ability of employers to provide incentives for employees to complete health risk assessments. The recent GINA regulations make clear that rewards (e.g., financial incentives, benefit eligibility) cannot be given for providing 'genetic information' (e.g., family medical history). And EEOC informal discussion letters advise that health risk assessments cannot be a precondition to participation in the employer's group health plans." (Deloitte)

[Guidance Overview] Medicare Part D Notices to Eligible Individuals Due Nov. 15 (PDF)
14 pages. Includes links to Model Individual Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice and Model Individual Non-Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice to be used in 2009. (Warner Norcross & Judd)

IRS Requests Applications for IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities
Excerpt: "The Secretary of the Treasury invites those individuals, organizations, and groups affiliated with employee plans and tax-exempt organizations to nominate individuals for membership on the ACT. Nominations should describe and document the proposed member's qualifications for membership on the ACT. Nominations should also specify the vacancy for which they wish to be considered.' (Editor's note: the document is silent as to which vacancies exist, however.) (Internal Revenue Service)

[Guidance Overview] Many Health and Welfare Plans to Remain Exempt from Filing New Schedule C of Form 5500
Excerpt: "While health and welfare plans funded through a trust will have to file Schedule C, plans exempt under existing guidance and regulations can continue to omit this form." (Mercer)

[Guidance Overview] Genetic Nondiscrimination Rules Affect Group Health Plan Practices
4 pages. Excerpt: "Employers may need to revise health plans to comply with the GINA regulations, which take effect Jan. 1, 2010, for calendar-year plans. This Update highlights the new rules and actions that group health plan sponsors can take to ensure compliance." (Mercer)

[Guidance Overview] Health Risk Assessments Face Bias Hurdle
Excerpt: "Under IRS rules associated with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, employers are prohibited from collecting genetic information -- defined as family medical history -- in health risk assessments if that information will be used for 'underwriting' purposes. That includes offering employees discounts on their monthly premium contributions or lowering deductibles for completing a health risk assessment." (Workforce Management)

[Guidance Overview] HHS Issues Interim Final Rule to Conform HIPAA Enforcement Regulations to HITECH Act Penalty Revisions
Excerpt: "The enforcement is tougher and the penalties that may be imposed are potentially higher under the HITECH Act than under the prior statutory language. Now that the currently effective HITECH Act enforcement provisions are incorporated into the regulations, more aggressive enforcement of HIPAA's administrative simplification rules (including privacy and security) seems likely." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Official Guidance] Text of Revised HHS Enforcement Regulations Implementing HITECH Act Provisions, Revised Limits on Administrative Simplification Rule Enforcement (PDF)
Excerpt: "[T]his interim final rule amends HIPAA's enforcement regulations, as they relate to the imposition of civil money penalties, to incorporate the HITECH Act's categories of violations, tiered ranges of civil money penalty amounts, and revised limitations on the Secretary's authority to impose civil money penalties for established violations of HIPAA's Administrative Simplification rules (HIPAA rules). This interim final rule does not make amendments with respect to those enforcement provisions of the HITECH Act that are not yet effective under the applicable statutory provisions. Such amendments will be subject to forthcoming rulemaking(s)." (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

[Guidance Overview] New Treasury Regulations Require Group Health Plans to Self-Report Excise Tax Liability
Excerpt: "Beginning January 1, 2010, plan sponsors (plan administrators for multiemployer plans) will need to self-report excise tax liabilities for failure to meet certain health plan requirements, including requirements under: * COBRA; * HIPAA's portability and nondiscrimination rules; * Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act; * Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act; * Health savings account comparability provisions; * Michelle's Law; * Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)" (Ballard Spahr)

EEOC Provides Technical Guidance on Pandemic Planning in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act (PDF)
4 pages. (Buck Consultants)

IRS Personnel Share Unofficial Comments on Compliance Issues with ABA Employee Benefits Committee
Excerpt: "IRS representatives shared their unofficial views on certain benefits issues that were presented earlier this year by the Employee Benefits Committee of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association. Although the views cited by the IRS representatives are not binding and do not represent the policy of the agency, they provide useful insight into areas of concern. Some of the notable unofficial and non-binding views shared by the IRS representatives were the following . . . ." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

[Guidance Overview] IRS Will Be Auditing Company Employment-Tax Practices Beginning in February
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service will be conducting detailed employment-tax examinations of some 6,000 companies beginning in February, the agency has announced. These auditing initiatives are being carried out, the IRS maintains, to gather statistical data for its first National Research Program study of employment tax compliance in about 25 years. The likely reason for resurrecting this particular focus is that a study of the tax gap -- the difference between the amount of taxes collected and the amount owed -- done in 2005 showed that employment taxes, after underreporting of income by individuals, was the second-largest contributor to the tax gap . . . ." (Human Resource Executive Online)

[Guidance Overview] 2010 Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Medicare (PDF)
2 pages. Note the paragraph on page 2 regarding employer action to be taken. (Milliman)

[Guidance Overview] 2010 Limits for Benefit Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Each year, the U.S. government adjusts the limits for pension plans, Social Security, Medicare, and other benefit programs to reflect price and wage inflation, and changes in the law. As a result, employee benefit specialists must annually adapt their benefit plans to accommodate the new limits. All of the numbers in this Alert are official, unless otherwise indicated. Our unofficial numbers should be the same as the official numbers because we used the same inflation data and statutory adjustment formulas that will be used by the federal agencies." (Aon Consulting)

House Committee Votes to Strip Health Insurance Industry of Federal Antitrust Exemption
Excerpt: "The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday 'voted to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws as senators announced plans to take the same step,' The Associated Press reports. The committee voted '20 to 9 to repeal a 1940s law that exempted the health insurance industry from federal controls over certain antitrust violations including price-fixing.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)

[Guidance Overview] What's in Store for Health Plans? Top 10 Legal Changes for 2009 - 2010
Excerpt: "December 31, 2009, is a significant date for group health plans that are operated on a calendar year. Non-calendar year plans face the same changes but with different timing requirements. And some new requirements are already in place. [The target document] is a brief description of some major new laws and rules that require implementation in 2009 or 2010." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

[Guidance Overview] Health Plan TPA Could Still Be a Fiduciary
Excerpt: "A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled that a third-party administrator (TPA) for two health plans cannot be blamed as a 'functional fiduciary' for problems in processing claims that allegedly cost the plans millions of dollars. However, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts indicated that a trial would have to be held to decide whether the TPA, BeneFirst LLC, was instead a 'named fiduciary.' Saylor asserted BeneFirst's discretion over the health plans, sponsored by a chain of New England and New York hardware stores, as well as its ability to control plan bank accounts did not rise to the level of making the TPA liable as a 'functional fiduciary' under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Guidance Overview] Summary of and Suggested Action Steps to Address the GINA Interim Final Regulations
10 pages. Excerpt: "Employers whose plans include wellness, health risk assessments and/or disease management will be most affected by the new rules. Detailed action steps will depend on the specifics of the employer's health care program, but some general action steps will apply to many group health plans: . . ." (Gallagher Benefit Services)

[Guidance Overview] ERISA Section 510: The Setting Is Ripe For Claims
Excerpt: "With layoffs continuing into the second half of the year, the setting is ripe for an increase in claims by employees who believe their discharge was motivated by their employers' desire to reduce or avoid benefit plan expenses. And section 510 claims are not necessarily made in a vacuum. They can come as part of a general wrongful discharge claim, age discrimination claim, or a whistleblower action where the employee also alleges the employer attempted to interfere with ERISA-protected rights." (Chang Rutherford & Long)

[Guidance Overview] Regulations on Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Affect Use of Health Risk Assessments, Other Programs (PDF)
Excerpt: "Interim final regulations have the weight of final regulations but are subject to future modification. Unfortunately for plan sponsors, the interim regulations leave little time for coming into compliance." (Buck Consultants)

[Guidance Overview] Group Health Plan Excise Tax Reporting Obligations Coming in 2010
Excerpt: "With the publication of final regulations on excise tax reporting, effective January 1, 2010, employers who sponsor group health plans now will be required to report and pay excise taxes for failing to satisfy certain federal group health plan mandates, unless timely corrected. In addition, excise tax reporting is required if comparable employer contribution rules are not satisfied for health savings accounts (HSAs) and Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs). Failure to file the excise tax return and pay the excise tax on or before the required due date will result, under Internal Revenue Code section 6651, in penalties and related interest unless the failure to timely file or pay is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect." (Groom Law Group)

Employers Are Pushing Ineligible Dependents Out of Health Insurance Plans
Excerpt: "Dependent eligibility audits, where employers demand that workers and retirees show documents proving that their claimed dependents qualify for health benefits, are quickly becoming the norm, said Jeri Stepman, a senior adviser at Watson Wyatt, an Arlington-based benefits consultancy. More than 60 percent of large U.S. companies conducted such audits this year, compared with fewer than half in 2007, according to the firm's survey of 489 employers. Even more companies are expected to conduct such audits next year." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Developments of Interest in the Multiemployer Health Plan Environment (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "This report includes: Recent developments in health care and the multiemployer marketplace. Data including consumer price index (CPI) and Segal health trends. A context for what's happening to health plans." (The Segal Group, Inc.)

Employee Benefits Attorney Nick Ferrigno Dies at 50: A Life Well-Lived
Nicholas William Ferrigno, Jr. 50, died September 28. His friend and employee benefits colleague Frank J. Bitzer tells us more. (Frank J. Bitzer, Esq.)

Short List of Important Dates to Remember
Excerpt: "The [list] provides insurance agents/brokers, employers and benefits professionals a checklist of key upcoming dates and deadlines related to health benefits. This does not constitute all of the deadlines applicable to employers and some deadlines may be different based on variations in plan year or plan design." (Infinisource)

[Guidance Overview] Health Plan Open Enrollment: Effect of GINA
Excerpt: "On October 1, 2009, the Department of Labor and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid released interim final rules and the Internal Revenue Service ('IRS') issued temporary and final rules to implement certain provisions of GINA, including the prohibition on the collection of genetic information by group health plans and group health insurance issuers. These rules, which will become effective on December 7, 2009, will have an immediate impact on the information that can be requested, required, or purchased from individuals in connection with enrollment or for underwriting purposes, particularly the continued use of health risk assessments (referred to in this Commentary as 'HRAs') and wellness programs. Because many employers are in the process of soliciting information from employees and their dependents in connection with annual open enrollment, immediate action may be required to comply with the new rules. Monetary penalties may apply in the case of violations that are not corrected promptly." (Jones Day)

[Official Guidance] Text of GINA Regulations from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, IRS, DOL (PDF)
35 pages, from Federal Register of October 7, 2009; 'Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Genetic Information; Interim Final Rules; HIPAA Administrative Simplification; Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act; Proposed Rules" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Guidance Overview] Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Health Insurance Regulations Issued
Excerpt: "Highly anticipated regulations on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) will require many employers to modify health risk assessments (HRAs) and other aspects of group health plans and wellness programs. Under the interim final rules, plans and insurers cannot collect genetic information, including family medical history, before or as part of enrollment or use genetic information to adjust premiums or contributions. This restriction means HRAs tied to incentives may need changes." (Mercer LLC)

[Guidance Overview] Complying with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008
Excerpt: "[The economic stimulus package] was adopted in October 2008 included the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (the 'Wellstone Act'). The changes made by the Wellstone Act will be effective for non-union plans for plan years beginning on or after October 4, 2009. Plan sponsors that have calendar year plans will have to comply as of January 1, 2010. In anticipation of this rapidly approaching deadline, this newsletter provides a review of these new mental health parity rules, as well as some action items to consider." (Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.)

Massachusetts Takes on Identity Theft; Get Ready for the New Data Security Requirements (PDF)
Excerpt: "On August 17, 2009, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued new data security rules that will affect employers with workers who live in Massachusetts and businesses that serve Massachusetts residents. The rules, which are now scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2010, will require companies that touch personal information of Massachusetts residents to provide certain minimum safeguards to protect the information from unauthorized access, disclosure or misuse." (Buck Consultants)

[Official Guidance] EBSA Fact Sheet on The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)
Excerpt: "The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) prohibits discrimination in group health plan coverage based on genetic information. GINA is effective for plan years beginning after May 21, 2009 (January 1, 2010 for calendar year plans). Regulations implementing the provisions of GINA were made public on October 1, 2009." (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Official Guidance] Interim Final Rules Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Genetic Information in Health Insurance Coverage and Group Health Plans (PDF)
137 pages. Excerpt: "This document contains interim final rules implementing sections 101 through 103 of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. These provisions prohibit discrimination based on genetic information in health insurance coverage and group health plans. . . . For the group market, these regulations become applicable to plans and issuers on the first day of the plan year beginning on or after [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]. For the individual market, these regulations become applicable with respect to health insurance coverage offered, sold, issued, renewed, in effect, or operated in the individual market on or after [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]." (IRS, DOL, HHS)

When HR Asks About Your Health
Employers want you to answer some personal questions. Should you? (CNNMoney.com)

[Guidance Overview] Balance Billing Practices May Constitute Breach of Contract
Excerpt: "This district court opinion holds interest for health care providers and benefit fiduciaries alike. As against a motion to dismiss, the district court holds that the plaintiffs have stated a cause of action against the health care provider for balance billing, i.e., billing the balance 'owed' after their health plan paid the PPO discounted rate." (Attorney Roy F Harmon III in the Health Plan Law blog)

National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2009
Includes updated (March 2009) tables on Retirement benefits; Health care benefits; Life, short-term, and long-term disability insurance benefits; Holiday, vacation, sick, and other leave benefits; Other benefits. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Guidance Overview] Mental Health Parity: Is Your Health Plan Ready?
Excerpt: "A number of legislative and regulatory changes affecting group health plans recently have or soon will become effective in the 15 months between October 1, 2008, and January 1, 2010 [including]: * The COBRA subsidy; * Michelle's Law; * Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act; * Special enrollment rights for persons losing CHIP or Medicare coverage or obtaining premium assistance from a state under a CHIP or Medicare program; * HIPAA privacy and security changes, including a breach notification requirement; * Final cafeteria plan regulations; and * Changes in state health insurance laws, such as the expansion of the available continuation coverage period from 18 to 36 months (New York) and modifications to the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act. [In addition, the] Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 . . . becomes effective for plan years beginning after October 3, 2009 (a special rule applies to collectively bargained plans). Thus, the effective date is January 1, 2010, for calendar year plans." (Jackson Lewis)

Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Chart -- Health and Welfare (PDF)
20 pages; updated September 24, 2009. (Towers Perrin)

Where ERISA And Workers' Compensation Claims Intersect -- An Insider's Guide
Excerpt: "In many cases employer self-funded group health plans are paying claims that should be paid by the workers' compensation insurance they have purchased (in other words, the employer is self-insured on the health plan, but has insurance coverage on the comp claim). And then there are the cases where the comp claim is on a dependent, such that the employer's group health plan is paying expenses incurred by a non-employee injured on some other employer's work site. Here's an insider's look into what is going on in this cost-shifting war." (Health Plan Law blog)

Xerox to Buy Parent of Buck Consultants for $6.4 Billion
Excerpt: "Xerox Corp. said Monday that it plans to acquire Affiliated Computer Services Inc., the parent company of Buck Consultants L.L.C., in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $6.4 billion." (Business Insurance)

[Guidance Overview] District Court Within The Ninth Circuit Holds That Priority Language Overrides the Make-Whole Rule
Excerpt: "A recurring issue for health plan subrogators is what language is sufficient to override the make whole rule. On the one hand, Circuits like the Fifth Circuit have held that no particular language is required to overcome the make whole rule. In the Fifth Circuit (and others like it), plan language simply providing for 100% recovery is sufficient. On the other hand, some Circuits like the Eleventh Circuit require that a health plan specifically disclaim the make whole rule by saying something to the effect that the plan can recover 100% of the medical expenses paid even if the member has not been made whole." (Clear Direction)

[Guidance Overview] Red Flags Rule: Application to Health Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, Dependent Care Assistant Programs and Transportation Plans
Excerpt: "Under the Red Flags Rule, certain businesses and organizations must establish and implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program (ITPP). To comply with the Red Flags Rules, a written ITPP must have four basic elements . . . ." (Groom Law Group)

[Official Guidance] From EBSA: 45 Frequently Asked Questions About the EFAST2 All-Electronic Filing System
Excerpt: "I heard that I will have to start filing the annual return/report (Form 5500 or Form 5500-SF) electronically. Can you tell me if that's true and when I would need to start? . . . How can I file my timely plan year 2008 annual return/report if it is due after January 1, 2010? . . . Short plan year 2009 annual returns/reports (Form 5500 or Form 5500-SF) may be due before EFAST2 can receive them in January 2010. How do I file these? . . . When can I register for EFAST2 electronic credentials to sign a Form 5500 or Form 5500-SF?" (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Guidance Overview] Insurer Not Liable for Discontinuing Small Group Supplemental Medical Policy
Excerpt: "We agree with this court's conclusion that the policy's termination did not violate HIPAA's prohibition on health status discrimination (which also applies to employer-sponsored health plans). HIPAA does not prohibit employers from making changes to their group health plan eligibility, benefits, or coverage provisions, so long as similarly situated individuals are treated the same and the change is not directed at individual participants or beneficiaries." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] IRS and Treasury Officials Provide Unofficial Views on Imputing Income for Health Coverage and More
Excerpt: "The Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) of the American Bar Association has reported on its May 2009 Q&A session with IRS and Treasury officials. Highlights include . . . ." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] Sixth Circuit Reviews ERISA Plan TPA Benefit Denial De Novo
Excerpt: "This recent Sixth Circuit case addresses several important legal issues, including the appropriate standard of review when a delegate makes a fiduciary decision and the application of an exclusion medical expenses incurred during performance of illegal acts." (Roy Harmon III via Health Plan Law)

[Guidance Overview] Headlines in Employee Benefits Law (PDF)
6 pages. Select compliance deadlines and reminders, retirement plan developments, health and welfare plan developments, and other developments affecting employee benefit plans. (Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.)

Critical Issues in Health Reform: Administrative Expenses (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "To better assess the potential for administrative cost savings under health reform options, it is important to understand the nature of the administrative functions and costs that are currently performed by health insurers. This paper discusses these various functions as well as how they can vary by different health insurance products and markets." (American Academy of Actuaries)

[Guidance Overview] Governance and Compliance Advisory Update: September 2009
Excerpt: "Most of these developments relate to health and welfare plans, particularly IRS guidance on over-the-counter items for FSAs. The HHS released final regulations covering security breaches under new HIPAA rules; Ohio initiated required health care coverage for uninsured and older dependent children, and Massachusetts clarified rules under its 'pay or play' mandate." (Towers Perrin)

[Official Guidance] Text of Proposed Prohibited Transaction Exemption for GM VEBA's Employer Securities (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "According to the Applicants, when the New GM VEBA Plan acquired the New GM Common Stock, the Preferred Stock, the Note and the Warrants, each asset might not have been a 'qualifying employer security' within the meaning of section 407(d)(5) and therefore the acquisition of each would not be permitted under section 406(a). Additionally, the Applicants note that even if the New GM Common Stock, the Preferred Stock, the Note and the Warrants were considered qualifying employer securities, the aggregate fair market value of employer securities held by the New GM VEBA Plan would exceed the 10 percent limitation in section 407(a)(2)." (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Guidance Overview] IRS Launching Employment Taxes Audit: 6,000 Employers Will Be Receiving Notices Shortly
Excerpt: "Recommendations for Employers[:] Immediately update mail processing procedures to monitor for audit notice. Designate an 'Employment Taxes Czar' with suitable support to review current employer compliance, manage audits and make recommendations for adjustments. Engage the assistance of outside expertise as early in the process as possible. Proactively review current employment taxes (state and federal) procedures/practices. Defer scheduling any IRS (or other) employment taxes audit appointment until an internal analysis can be conducted and necessary records reviewed and organized." (Littler Mendelson)

[Guidance Overview] Compliance with Mandatory Reporting Requirements Under Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (PDF)
Excerpt: "The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 ('MMSEA') took effect July 1, 2009. One of the purposes of MMSEA is to allow the federal government to recover payments made under Medicare when Medicareincorrectly acted as a primary payer or when a Medicare beneficiary receives payments from both an insurer and Medicare for the same injury. To that end, MMSEA requires group health plan arrangements ('GHPs' ) and liability insurers, no-fault insurers, workers' compensation insurers, and self-insurers (collectively, 'non-GHPs') to report any settlement, award, judgment, or other payment that they make involving a Medicare beneficiary to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ('CMS'), the federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for administering Medicare." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)

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