Sep. 4, 2025; pub. online Oct. 2, 2025. "Form 1095-A is used to report certain information to the IRS about individuals who enroll in a qualified health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Form 1095-A is also furnished to individuals to allow them to take the premium tax credit, to reconcile the credit on their returns with advance payments of the premium tax credit (advance credit payments), and to file an accurate tax return."  MORE >>

25 pages. Topics: [1] Legislative and regulatory update; [2] Litigation update; [3] HIPAA top 10 current issues; [4] HIPAA deep dive: Recurring issues; [5] Compliance issues: GLP-1s and disease management.  MORE >>

"Key Dates for Employers: [1] November 10, 2025 -- Recommended date ... to submit an equivalent plan for approval before the law's effective date. [2] December 1, 2025 -- Provide employees individualized notice of their rights and benefits under the MPL law.... [3] January 1, 2026 -- The MPL law's effective date; benefits become available to employees. Payroll deductions start for current employees. [4] April 30, 2026 -- First quarterly payment due to the DEED."  MORE >>

"When your employees do not work a standard 9-to-5 schedule, calculating their [FMLA] entitlement can get tricky. [DOL Opinion Letter FMLA2025-02-A] clarifies how to handle it, especially when mandatory overtime and optional extra shifts are part of the mix."  MORE >>

"The court concluded that the participant had plausibly alleged an 'as written' MHPAEA violation in that the 24-hour nursing requirement was imposed only on residential mental health treatment facilities -- not on comparable medical/surgical analogs. While the administrator argued that it effectively imposed the same requirement on medical/surgical facilities because it required them to meet state licensing or federal Medicare/Medicaid requirements (which in turn required 24-hour nursing), the court ruled that a requirement that is expressly written into the plan is facially different than the incorporation of extrinsic licensing standards, even if those standards impose the same requirement in practice." [Brady K. v. Health Care Serv. Corp., No. 25-0759 (N.D. Ill. Sep. 25, 2025)]  MORE >>

"[T]he court made clear that the ERISA section 702(b) claim arising from the tobacco surcharge only survived because the plaintiff plausibly alleged that the 'Plan materials fail to notify participants that a physician's recommendation will be accommodated' and not under the other theories asserted." [Bailey v. Sedgwick Claims Mgmt. Serv., Inc., No. 24-2749 (W.D. Tenn. Sep. 26, 2025)]  MORE >>

"[M]any SECURE 2.0 projects are still on the list. And, many OBBBA projects made the list, including changes to Code sections 162(m), 4960, and 223.... Several important guidance projects have been dropped, including a longstanding guidance project on VEBA and other welfare benefit funds under Code sections 419, 419A, etc."  MORE >>