Subject: BL-Newsletter: Mental Health Parity Act Rules; Ins. Company General
 Account  Reg
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 11:45:53 -0500

.................  BenefitsLink Newsletter  .............
{
{ Free, useful information about U.S. tax and labor laws
{ and new Internet resources, for employee benefit plan
{ sponsors, service-providers and participants.
.........................................................

===============================================================
MENTAL HEALTH PARITY ACT RULES ISSUED

Three federal agencies today (December 22, 1997) issued interim
rules governing parity between medical/surgical benefits and
mental health benefits in group health plans and health
insurance coverage offered by issuers in connection with a
group health plan.  The rules implement changes made to certain
provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA and the Public
Health Service Act enacted as part of the Mental Health Parity
Act of 1996 (MHPA) and the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.  The
rules are being adopted on an interim basis "to ensure that
sponsors and administrators of group health plans, participants
and beneficiaries, States, and issuers of group health
insurance coverage have timely guidance concerning compliance
with the requirements of MHPA."  They are effective January 1,
1998. (The requirements of MHPA and the interim rules apply to
group health plans and health insurance issuers offering health
insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan for
plan years beginning on or after January 1, 1998.)

Find a link to the full text of the new rules on the "What's
New" page for the Week of December 22, 1997 on BenefitsLink at

   http://www.benefitslink.com/whatsnew.shtml

===============================================================
INSURANCE COMPANY GENERAL ACCOUNT PROPOSED REGULATIONS ISSUED

The Department of Labor has adopted a proposed regulation which
clarifies the application of ERISA  to insurance company
general accounts.  Section 401 of ERISA provides that the DOL
must issue proposed regulations to provide guidance for the
purpose of determining, where an insurer issues one or more
policies to or for the benefit of an employee benefit plan (and
such policies are supported by assets of the insurer's general
account), which assets held by the insurer (other than plan
assets held in its separate accounts) constitute assets of the
plan for purposes of part 4 of Title I of ERISA and section
4975 of the Internal Revenue Code, and for the purpose of
applying Title I of ERISA to the general account assets of
insurers.

Find a link to the full text of the proposed reg on the
"What's New" page for the Week of December 22, 1997 on
BenefitsLink at

   http://www.benefitslink.com/whatsnew.shtml

.................  BenefitsLink Newsletter  ...............
{
{ To unsubscribe: send email to majordomo@bolis.com
{ with "UNSUBSCRIBE BL-newsletter" in the text of the email
{ without the quotation marks.
{
{ To subscribe: send email to majordomo@bolis.com
{ with "SUBSCRIBE BL-newsletter" in the text of the email
{ without the quotation marks.
{
{ Your email address is not sold or leased to junk mailers
{ or any other organization ... no spam, just BenefitsLink!
{
{ To contribute information for publication or to learn
{ more about sponsoring an issue of the newsletter, please
{ contact the editor at erisa@benefitslink.com.
{
{ BenefitsLink is the national employee benefits Web site
{ at http://www.benefitslink.com  -- Dave Baker, Editor.