[Guidance Overview]

Agencies Emphasize New MHPAEA Compliance Expectations

"The FAQs provide examples of reasons why the Departments might conclude that documentation of comparative analyses of NQTLs is insufficiently specific and detailed.... [T]he Departments clarify that plan sponsors should be prepared to make available documents that support the analysis and conclusions of their NQTL comparative analyses."  MORE >>

Segal

[Guidance Overview]

Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Answers

"As employers build out their [Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)] compliance programs and receive employees' PFML applications, many new questions and scenarios continue to arise. This blog post sheds light on some of these practical issues, including insight from the [Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave] itself."  MORE >>

Foley & Lardner LLP

Identifying Plan Assets in ERISA Health and Welfare Plans

"The process of determining when employer assets are considered plan assets requires consideration of where the assets are held and [of] any restrictions on [their] use ... as well as contracts, legal instruments, employer intentions, and representations made to participants and beneficiaries that might bear on whether the plan has a legal interest in the assets."  MORE >>

Verrill Dana LLP

COVID-19 PPE Qualifies as Medical Expense

"If the group health plan allows full scope reimbursement of Section 213(d) medical expenses, a plan amendment may not be needed."  MORE >>

OneDigital Health and Benefits

Emergency Physicians Recover a Higher Share of Charges from Out-of-Network Care Than from In-Network Care

"Physicians collected 65 percent of the charged amount for likely surprise bills compared with 52 percent for other cases. Patients who likely received a surprise out-of-network bill for emergency care paid physicians more than ten times as much as other emergency patients paid, on average."  MORE >>

Health Affairs

Ninth Circuit Enforces Forum Selection Clause in 401(k) Plan

"The Ninth Circuit denied the 'extraordinary remedy' of mandamus, holding that the plan's forum-selection clause was enforceable. The Court emphasized the presumptive validity of forum-selection clauses and reasoned that nothing in ERISA prohibits plans and participants from agreeing on a forum for litigating their disputes." [Becker v. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland, No. 20-72805 (9th Cir. Apr. 1, 2021)]  MORE >>

Proskauer

Happy National Employee Benefits Day, April 6, 2021!

"If there was ever a year to celebrate National Employee Benefits Day, this is the year. The last year needs no introduction, but it is worthwhile to take just a moment to acknowledge the role employee benefits and all the tireless employee benefit professionals have played in getting us through."  MORE >>

Jackson Lewis P.C.

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Issues and Answers on the ARPA Dependent Care FSA Change

ERISAfire

ARPA COBRA Subsidy: Two Bites at the Apple, and Some Additional Food for Thought

Proskauer

MHPAEA Guidance Addresses Comparative Analysis Disclosures Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act

Thomson Reuters Practical Law