"This article provides a detailed overview of the Final Rule and includes ... practical steps that plan sponsors should keep in mind ... [The 'meaningful benefits'] requirement is, in effect, a benefits mandate with regards to the kinds of treatments that plans must provide for covered mental health conditions and substance use disorders.... Compliance with the Final Rule will be a very heavy lift for plan sponsors."  MORE >>

"The 64 drugs with reduced co-insurance costs for Medicare patients include Kepivance, which treats mouth sores caused by chemotherapy, Talvey, used to treat patients with multiple myeloma, and Yescarta for recurrent or treatment-resistant blood cancer."  MORE >>

"The new legislation expands the existing Sick Leave Law to require employers to provide an additional 20 hours per calendar year of paid sick time to New York employees for prenatal healthcare services. This is intended to be a separate, stand-alone benefit from other leave policies and laws.... [E]mployers cannot require the use of one leave type over another. And unlike Paid Sick Leave, employers cannot opt for an accrual method and must make the leave available to all employees once law takes effect on January 1, 2025."  MORE >>

"While Connecticut has had mandatory paid sick leave for 'service workers' employed by companies with at least 50 employees for over a decade, as of January 1, 2025, the law is expanded to cover all employees working for a company with more than 25 employees. The number of employees slowly drops year over year so that on January 1, 2027, all employers who employ at least 1 employee must comply."  MORE >>

"The crux of the legal dispute centered around whether evidence obtained by Reliance after the administrative claim was deemed exhausted should be included in the court's record.... The court agreed with Plaintiff, granting her motion to exclude such evidence and emphasizing that Reliance's noncompliance with the DOL's strict deadlines effectively closed the administrative record." [King v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., No. 23-0443 (N.D. Ind. Dec. 19, 2024)]  MORE >>

"Data from nearly 5.6 million people was exposed due to a ransomware attack on nonprofit health system Ascension this spring, according to a report to federal regulators. The attack compromised personal information from some current and former Ascension patients, senior living residents and employees ... The breach is the third largest reported to the HHS' Office for Civil Rights' healthcare data breach portal this year[.]"  MORE >>

"The Bipartisan House Working Group released drafts of two bills that would incentivize uniform state paid family leave laws.... Although the bills would not override state laws or establish a mandatory federal paid leave scheme, they aim to standardize various state paid family leave programs and incentivize state participation."  MORE >>

"The end of these flexibilities may result in a dramatic reduction in the scope of Medicare Fee-For-Service reimbursement for telehealth ... If the flexibilities are not extended before the end of the year, there is also the possibility that they could be retroactively extended once either the new congress is sworn in on January 3, or when the new administration takes office on January 20."  MORE >>

"The draft ordinance [provides] for a health payment of $8.35 an hour commencing on July 1, 2025. This is an increase from the current $5.95 per hour under the LWO and would be a new benefit for most hotel workers."  MORE >>

"The requirement that certain preventive services be covered without cost-sharing is one of the most popular provisions of the ACA. It has enabled over 150 million people to access free preventive care, which has improved overall health outcomes and minimized gaps in access to care, especially among marginalized populations. Ending this requirement would roll back health care to the pre-ACA era when cost-sharing barriers made it harder for many Americans to access preventive services."  MORE >>

"With thorough research and, potentially, guidance from independent consultants, companies could secure better premiums, improve outcomes, reduce denials, and enhance employee satisfaction. However, many organizations rely only on advisors who focus narrowly on premiums ... This is particularly problematic when using commission-based advisors whose incentives align with insurers, not the employers or employees. For the advisor/consultant, higher premiums yield higher commissions, bonuses, trips and other rewards."  MORE >>

"These regulations propose to eliminate provisions related to registered tax return preparers, classify the use of certain contingent fee arrangements by practitioners as disreputable conduct, establish new standards for appraisals and the disqualification of appraisers, and update certain provisions as appropriate. This document also provides notice of a public hearing on the proposed regulations and withdraws the notice of proposed rulemaking published on July 28, 2009. The regulations would affect registered tax return preparers, enrolled agents (EAs), enrolled retirement plan agents, enrolled actuaries, Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) participants, attorneys, certified public accountants (CPAs), appraisers, and other practitioners."  MORE >>

"The relief for both storms ends on May 1, 2025. It is important to note that the relief applies not only to ERISA employee benefit plans under the EBSA Notice but also to plan participants, beneficiaries and enrollees affected by the covered disasters, as specified in the DOL/IRS joint notice."  MORE >>

"Lubin, who was covered under his wife's Starbucks health plan, claimed that Starbucks sent him a deficient COBRA notice. The crux of the matter, however, was that while Lubin's wife was bound by an arbitration agreement due to her employment, Lubin himself never agreed to arbitrate disputes with Starbucks.... This case underscores the necessity for employers and organizations to clearly delineate the parties bound by arbitration agreements[.]" [Lubin v. Starbucks Corp., No. 21-11215 (11th Cir. Dec. 16, 2024)]  MORE >>