"A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged account that individuals can use to save and pay for unreimbursed medical expenses (e.g., deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance, and services not covered by insurance). Although eligibility to contribute to an HSA is associated with enrollment in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), an HSA is a trust/custodial account and is not health insurance." [R45277 Aug. 8, 2022]  MORE >>

"San Francisco has posted the 2023 Health Care Expenditure (HCE) rates under the Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) rules. The HCSO applies to all employers that must obtain a San Francisco business registration certificate and have at least 20 employees in any location if at least one works in the city and county of San Francisco....  HCSO expenditure requirements do not currently apply to employees telecommuting outside of San Francisco."  MORE >>

"The 9th Circuit stated that the [Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA)] contains an express preemption provision disallowing railroad employees from having any right to sickness benefits under a sickness law of any State. Given that the Act provides sickness benefits, the Act falls within the express terms of the RUIA preemption." [National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Su, No. 21-15816 (9th Cir. Jul. 26, 2022)]  MORE >>

"The [Seventh Circuit] emphasized that 'an employer can violate the FMLA by discouraging an employee from exercising rights under the FMLA without denying an FMLA leave request.' ... [One district court] considered a supervisor's body language (he was 'visibly perturbed') in denying summary judgment on an FMLA claim. Now more than ever, training managers on appropriate responses to FMLA leave requests is essential to prevent interference claims."  MORE >>

"[W]ith Dobbs, the judicial process has taken on a political gloss. To what extent can any precedent now be relied on? Employers need to take this new 'political' risk into account as the weigh their plan design options. This calculus extends to directors, officers, and LLC managers, who might be targeted personally."  MORE >>

"Confusion remains high around key terms such as 'deductible' and 'co-pay,' while the workings of health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are often a mystery."  MORE >>

"Employers that offer health coverage for workers fear Medicare drug price reduction provisions in ... the Inflation Reduction Act would lead to drugmakers shifting bigger price increases onto commercial plans in order to make up for lost revenue.... That's on top of missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars in potential savings after the Senate rules arbiter found that private insurers couldn't benefit from the price caps and rebate provision in the plan."  MORE >>