"[A]bsent a further continuation or early termination, the National Emergency will end on February 28 [2023].... [A]bsent a further extension, the Public Health Emergency will expire in mid-October 2022.... When these emergencies do finally end, plan sponsors should be prepared to send communications to participants about the end of the extensions and review their plan documents to account for any changes after the end of the period."  MORE >>

"Effective July 1, 2022, the 'Healthy Workplaces Act' now requires all private employers in the State of New Mexico, regardless of the size of their business or total workforce population, to provide eligible employees with up to 60 hours of paid sick leave per year for personal health or injury, to care for a family member, or for reasons related to domestic abuse."  MORE >>

"[T]he court held that ... the interim rule 'places its thumb on the scale for the QPA, requiring arbitrators to presume the correctness of the QPA and then imposing a heightened burden on the remaining statutory factors to overcome that presumption.' The court held that by implementing the interim rule, HHS essentially rewrote statutory terms that were already clear and unambiguous." [LifeNet v. HHS, No. 22-162 (E.D. Tex. Jul. 26, 2022)]  MORE >>

"Employers who made a claim should be aware that they may have fiduciary duties under ERISA with respect to the use of any proceeds from the settlement fund. In its approval order ... the court stated that all ERISA fiduciaries must comply with those duties.... [T]he court acknowledged that while the settlement funds are not 'plan assets' at the time of their distribution, the [DOL] may take the position that some of those settlement funds are 'plan assets' after distribution." [In re: Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation MDL 2406, No. 13-20000 (N.D. Ala. settlement approved Aug. 9, 2022)]  MORE >>

"The survey of 305 U.S. employers found over a third of respondents (35%) now offer travel and lodging benefits for elective and medically necessary abortions. Another 16% of employers plan to offer abortion travel benefits in 2023, while 21% are considering it."  MORE >>

"While significantly higher than the increase of 4.4% projected for 2022, the 2023 increase lags overall inflation, which is currently running at about 9% ... The projected increase of 5.6% reflects changes that employers plan to make to hold down cost. If they made no changes, respondents indicated that the cost for their largest medical plan would rise by an average of 7.0%."  MORE >>

"Setting expectations and vision are paramount to the overall success of an open enrollment. It's important to meet often and early to plan necessary logistics and put workflows in place to avoid staff burnout during this hectic time."  MORE >>

"U.S. workers who lacked access to paid leave missed out on an estimated $28 billion in wages over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years."  MORE >>

"The IRA's drug pricing reforms include Medicare drug price negotiation, Medicare inflationary rebates, and Medicare Part D redesign ... [This article provides] a broad overview of the three main pillars of the IRA's drug pricing reforms -- considering their differences from prior legislative proposals, as well as clarifying what other reforms are not included in the package."  MORE >>

"The Inflation Reduction Act ... will reduce the cost of prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare ... In total, these changes will save the government about $250 billion over ten years and will also lower premiums and cost sharing for Medicare beneficiaries."  MORE >>

"Victims of severe storms and flooding beginning July 25, 2022, now have until November 15, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments ... Individuals and households ... that reside or have a business in the Independent City of St. Louis, Montgomery, St. Charles and St. Louis counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>