"[CMS] is releasing this bulletin establishing the submission deadlines ... for health insurance issuers applying to offer qualified health plans (QHPs) on the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFEs).... Table 1 lists key PY2027 dates for QHP certification applications and related data submissions. Additional information about the PY2027 QHP certification process will be provided in future guidance."  MORE >>

18 pages. "This document corrects technical errors in the proposed rule that appeared in the February 11, 2026, Federal Register titled 'Patient Protection and [ACA], HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027; and Basic Health Program.' "  MORE >>

"RxDC reporting is now a routine part of the benefits compliance calendar. It is due annually by June 1 to report on the prior calendar year. Employers are typically responsible for collecting and providing to their reporting vendor certain information referred to as the 'P2' plan information and 'D1' average monthly premium information. Insurance carriers and TPAs impose deadlines as early as March."  MORE >>

"Educational assistance programs under Code Section 127 currently can be used to help employees repay certain student loans, though certain restrictions apply.... The loan repayment provision, originally set to expire at the end of 2025 ... is now permanent and applies to payments made after March 27, 2020."  MORE >>

"[E]mployers will be required to provide additional paid leave and unpaid leave to all employees, including new employees upon hire with no probation period By March 8, employers are required to revise policies and procedures to comply, and must also physically post and distribute an updated notice of employee rights to current employees and new hires"  MORE >>

"The takeaway for HR is direct. Review how your plan administrators are tracking and meeting ERISA's appeals deadlines. Check whether your vendor agreements include accountability mechanisms for procedural compliance. And make sure your benefits team understands that when an administrator misses a federal deadline, the consequences land on the plan -- and that is a problem that starts with the people who chose and oversee that administrator in the first place." [Cogdell v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., No. 24-1940 (4th Cir. Mar. 3, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[T]wo major suits here thus far have been unable to establish grounds upon which to bring suit -- essentially because the program is positioned as something in which the plan sponsor exercises discretion in the rates set on its own accord, with no apparent responsibility to negotiate better rates (certainly not on individual drugs) based on alternatives." [Navarro v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 24-3043 (D. Minn. Mar. 3, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The large employer group health insurance market lacks a standardized source for nationwide premium development information. California regulations require issuers of these health insurance products to submit rate filings to their regulator(s). This white paper summarizes key statistics from six years of these filings."  MORE >>

"A new national survey finds American workers hold consistently positive views of employer-provided health care coverage ... 89% of workers are satisfied with their employer-provided coverage. 96% say employer-provided coverage is important to their household's financial security. 68% rank health insurance as their top workplace benefit. 83% agree that employer-sponsored health insurance should remain tax-exempt to protect working families."  MORE >>

"The net effect [of price transparency] is therefore ambiguous and depends on market structure, benefit design, and -- crucially -- who can practically use the information.... In many administered-price systems such as the UK and many EU countries, published prices already exist; transparency is more likely to operate through benchmarking, audit, and governance rather than consumer price shopping.... [The authors] argue that, in the US, transparency must be paired with steerage and competition guardrails to realize savings without inadvertently enabling coordination."  MORE >>

"Despite the promise of [value-based payments (VBP)], some primary care practices have been left behind, and their patients haven't been able to benefit. Policymakers and payers are particularly worried about low participation among rural, small, and independent practices ... In this blog post, [the authors] assess current rates of primary care physician (PCP) participation in VBP ... [and] highlight opportunities to design value-based models to account for the needs of different practice settings, such as small or rural practices."  MORE >>