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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter December 28, 2020 |
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Newly Posted |
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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[Guidance Overview]
"Effective January 1, 2021, hospitals operating in the United States are required to have detailed pricing information prominently displayed on their websites. They must post their standard charges online. Standard charges are 'the regular rate[s] established by the hospital for an item or service provided to a specific group of paying patients.' ... These include the hospital's gross charges, payer-specific negotiated charges, de-identified minimum and maximum negotiated charges, and discounted cash prices." Akerman |
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[Guidance Overview]
"[T]he DOL has been actively pursuing employees' individual and collective claims based on the FFCRA.... Employers may require employees to provide documentation of their FFCRA leaves at (or around) the same time they provide notice of their FFCRA leave ... Employees are not entitled to FFCRA leave during furlough or days when work is not available.... Employers may, at their option, offer intermittent FFCRA leaves to employees who are either (a) teleworking or (b) taking leave based on a school closure or childcare unavailability." Hall Benefits Law |
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[Guidance Overview]
"[Recent Colorado] guidance includes two unexpected interpretations: [1] Employers of all sizes must provide Public Health Emergency Paid Sick Leave in 2021; and [2] Employers must provide up to 80 hours of Public Health Emergency Paid Sick Leave in 2021 regardless of whether they already supplied paid leave related to COVID-19 in 2020." Fisher Phillips |
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"Most of the new requirements take effect with plan years beginning January 1, 2022, and they apply to group health plans (including self-insured plans) and health insurance issuers of group and individual plans.... The new law includes some 'wins' for providers and is intended to bring greater certainty to providers, payers and patients regarding out-of-network reimbursement." Hall Render |
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"The PBM space has consolidated to the point that five firms ... manage the lion's share of the pharmacy benefits offered to U.S. health plan members. Beyond their deepening integration with the payers that own them, these firms are working to expand their data and direct-to-consumer operations." AISHealth |
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"Many view the ruling as a blow to PBMs, as PBMs have often taken the position that ERISA preempts the myriad of state laws seeking to regulate PBM practices, particularly with respect to PBMs' negotiated rates with pharmacies. This decision will likely pave the way for a flood of new state-level PBM regulating legislation in 2021 and beyond. In the meantime, the Supreme Court's decision in this case is instructive when analyzing whether ERISA preempts certain state laws regulating PBMs." [Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Mgmt. Assoc., No. 18-540 (S. Ct. Dec. 10, 2020)] Hall Render |
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Benefits in General |
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[Guidance Overview]
"The Act includes numerous provisions affecting health and welfare plans -- including, most notably, extensive group health plan requirements on surprise medical billing ... The Act requires plans and insurers to provide price comparison tools by telephone and through the plan's website.... Under the Act, for plan years ending in 2020, health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs) and dependent care FSAs may permit participants to carry over any unused amounts or contributions from the 2020 plan year to the plan year ending in 2021.... The Act expands the ERISA Section 408(b)(2) service provider compensation disclosure rules to group health plans.... "The Act includes the following retirement plan-related provisions: [1] Permits distributions to individuals in certain industries during working retirement. [2] Provides temporary relief
from the partial plan termination rules. [3] Provides special disaster relief for distributions and loans from qualified retirement plans. [4] Clarifies the applicability of coronavirus-related distributions and loans to money purchase pension plans. [5] Provides relief for defined benefit plans relating to certain 'qualified future transfers." Thomson Reuters Practical Law |
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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ERISA Implications of Employer-Sponsored COVID Vaccine Programs
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HSA Rollovers: What to Tell Your Employees
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2020 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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