"Cafeteria plan deadlines for [CAA 2021] amendments ... Non-calendar year plan limitation removed from October 2022 'family glitch' guidance ... New indexed PCORI fees ... Outbreak period deadline relief continues, but for how long? ... What you need to know about nondiscrimination testing ... Form 5500 obligation ... 2023 index figures."  MORE >>

"[O]ptional, temporary changes to cafeteria plans for the 2021 plan year [included] permitting employees to carry over their entire unused health FSA and/or dependent care FSA balances from 2021 to 2022 or extending grace periods for employees to use their unused 2021 health FSA and/or dependent care FSAs balances through December 31, 2022.... [A] cafeteria plan with a calendar plan year ... must be amended [for these changes] by December 31, 2022."  MORE >>

34 pages. "[The authors] estimate that if the PHE expires in April 2023, 18.0 million people will lose Medicaid coverage in the following 14 months. Of those, ... about 3.8 million people will become uninsured, about 9.5 million people will either newly enroll in employer-sponsored insurance after losing Medicaid or transition to employer-sponsored insurance as their only source of coverage after being enrolled in both employer-sponsored insurance and Medicaid sometime during the PHE[.]"  MORE >>

"This Report to Congress examines the critical role that insulin plays in the treatment of diabetes, reviews evidence on how insulin affordability affects adherence to insulin treatment and affects downstream health consequences, and describes policy efforts to improve the affordability of insulin. The Report also analyzes total health expenditures and out-of-pocket costs for patients with diabetes who use insulin, as well as the potential savings that may accrue from policies designed to improve insulin affordability, including provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act."  MORE >>

"[If] you've ever shopped for health insurance or read an explanation of benefits, you've probably encountered health insurance terminology that's hard to understand.... Navigating the world of health insurance is much easier when you're familiar with some of these complex medical insurance terms. Here are explanations for many health insurance terms that you may encounter as you shop for insurance or navigate your health plan."  MORE >>

"Denton recently approved six weeks of fully paid parental leave for city employees, joining other North Texas cities that offer the benefit.... Plano, Frisco and Grapevine are among the North Texas cities that don't offer paid parental leave. Dallas and Fort Worth offer up to six weeks of paid leave for full-time employees having a baby, adopting a child or fostering a child."  MORE >>

"Employers can be advised to select from direct-to-worker payments, available under [the CARES Act], or use an indirect option for student debt repayment benefits. In the current legal framework, both basic and creative options are available[.]"  MORE >>

"On November 30, 2022, the Texas Medical Association (TMA) ... sued the Biden administration (for the third time) with respect to the implementation of the No Surprises Act (NSA).... While previous TMA lawsuits challenged guardrails that the Administration sought to create related to the IDR process, TMA now argues that even if they were to win their second lawsuit challenging the latest IDR guardrails, the Administration's methodology for the QPA would still cause harm to providers by improperly reducing the QPA amount." [Texas Medical Assoc. v. HHS, No. 22-0450 (E.D. Tex. complaint filed Nov. 30, 2022)]  MORE >>

"Many manufacturers provide financial copay assistance to patients with rare, life-threatening or complex chronic conditions, contributing $12 billion in 2021. PBMs, however, have developed schemes to pocket this assistance for themselves and their insurer clients without giving patients full credit. These programs are known as copay accumulators and copay maximizers, and they are sticking patients with a greater share of prescription drug costs and other costs related to their illness."  MORE >>

"Victims of Hurricane Nicole beginning November 7, 2022, now have until March 15, 2023, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments ... individuals and households affected by Hurricane Nicole that reside or have a business in Brevard, Duval, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Martin, Nassau, Palm Beach, Putnam, St. Johns, St. Lucie, and Volusia counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>