"OCR has now ... opined that the information collected may not be PHI depending on the individual user's reason for visiting a Regulated Entity's unauthenticated pages on a website or mobile app.... The updated guidance does not address how an individual's reason for visiting its website ... can be discerned at the point of collection through these automated electronic processes. Nor does the guidance expressly state that consideration of the reason for the individual's visit may be considered by OCR in its enforcement efforts."  MORE >>

"Employers (or other plan sponsors) who missed the March 1 deadline should provide the individual returns as soon as possible. Corrections made within 30 days of the deadline will result in reduced penalty amounts, and corrections made after the 30-day deadline but before August 1 are subject to increased penalty amounts that are still less than the presumptive penalty amounts that would otherwise apply."  MORE >>

"Most employee benefit plans that provide tax-advantaged benefits include nondiscrimination rules to discourage employers from providing more generous benefits to highly compensated and/or key employees.... [This article] lays out the various nondiscrimination requires that may apply to a cafeteria plan and its component plans."  MORE >>

"Lewandowski reinforces how important it is for health plan fiduciaries to pay close attention to their plans' costs and fees ... Retirement plan 'excessive fee' litigation has ... reshaped the entire retirement industry -- from the pricing of investments to compensation paid to service providers to insurance and legal costs. If Lewandowski gains any traction and paves a new path of ERISA fiduciary litigation, we could see the same seismic disruption in the health plan industry." [Lewandowski v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 23-0671 (D.N.J. complaint filed Feb. 5, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The breadth of these complaints against a health plan sponsor and the plan's fiduciaries in their individual capacities is sending shockwaves through the employer-sponsored health plan and service provider communities. Consensus is growing that this lawsuit is just the beginning of a series of lawsuits that could be filed by employee-participants against the plan sponsor and the plan's fiduciaries for fiduciary breaches." [Lewandowski v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 23-0671 (D.N.J. complaint filed Feb. 5, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The court ... concluded that the participant had adequately alleged that on its face, the plan imposed an unequal burden on same-sex couples by requiring them to incur out-of-pocket costs and provide verifiable proof of multiple cycles of donor insemination, while heterosexual couples could show infertility without cost or documentation. The court further concluded that the employer was not a necessary party to the litigation despite the administration company's argument that the employer had the final say on the benefits offered by the plan." [Berton v. Aetna, Inc., No. 23-1849 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 29, 2024)]  MORE >>

"End-of-year balances increased in 2022 to $4,607, but overall, average balances are still modest.... Relative to 2022, average ... individual contributions rose to $1,962, while the average employer contribution decreased slightly to $762.... [O]ver one-half of accountholders withdrew funds."  MORE >>

30 pages. "The Committee may want to act relatively quickly to shore up the strength of ERISA's preemptive standard before any potential SCOTUS action on Mulready.... [NABIP] strongly suggest[s] that Congress adjust the definitions of fiduciary and service provider within ERISA to create specific definitions for health and welfare plans.... Congress should ensure that the entity holding the information or the entity responsible for its determination should be the one responsible for any federal reporting or data compilation requirement.... It is unfair and unreasonable to hold the employer responsible and liable for reporting information they cannot control."  MORE >>