"The IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns, Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, and Form 4423, Application for Filing [ACA] Information Returns."   MORE >>

"The [income] exclusion for no-additional-cost services applies to services provided in-kind, and to partial or total cash rebates of any amount the employee paid for the service....IRS regulations provide that eligible services may include excess-capacity services such as hotel accommodations, transportation (by aircraft, train, bus, subway, or cruise line), and telephone services.... The regulations suggest that some tangible items (e.g., in-flight meals) can be provided without loss of the exclusion, so long as the goods are incidental to the primary service."   MORE >>

"These services are restricted to informational and referral consultations that assist employees with identifying, contacting and negotiating with life-management resources for solutions to a personal, work, or family challenge.... WLR programs may be available to a significant portion of an employer's employees, but they are used infrequently by employees and only when an employee faces one of the particular challenges the programs are designed to address.... [T]he Fact Sheet concludes that, under these circumstances, WLR programs are exempt from taxation under Section 132(e)." MORE >>

"[E]mployers will be required to provide up to twenty hours of 'paid prenatal personal leave' a year beginning on January 1, 2025.... A separate budget law ... makes further adjustments to New York's lactation and breastfeeding accommodation requirements. As of June 19, 2024, covered employers will be required to provide paid thirty-minute breaks for employees who need to express breast milk for a nursing child."   MORE >>

"The court pointed out that MHPAEA claims present a challenge because there is no specific private right of action that can be brought by an aggrieved individual, nor are there any specific provisions of ERISA that address this situation.... While ERISA's fiduciary duties require adherence to plan terms, the statute contains qualifying language requiring that plan instruments 'are consistent with the provisions of [ERISA].' The court interpreted that language as suggesting that an MHPAEA violation is also a breach of fiduciary duty." [ Ryan S. v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. , No. 22-55761 (9th Cir. Apr. 11, 2024)]   MORE >>

"UnitedHealth Group (UHC) announced on April 22, 2024, that it had paid a ransom to protect patient data potentially acquired in a late February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare.... UHC has not officially notified affected health plans and their participants that a breach had occurred.... UHC reported that it has found files containing protected health information (PHI) or personally identifiable information (PII), which could cover a substantial portion of people in America.... To mitigate any harm resulting from the CHC breach, [the authors] recommend that ERISA-regulated plans which may be impacted by the breach inform their plan participants of the CHC event."   MORE >>

"Compared to low-telemedicine health systems, patients of high-telemedicine health systems had 'modest' increases in office visits, care continuity, and prescription drug adherence; fewer ED visits; no differences in testing or preventive service; and a small spending increase due largely to inpatient services and drug costs."   MORE >>

"[P]lan participants generally preferred to receive certain health care services in [physician offices] over [hospital outpatient departments], were not willing to pay more for services performed in their preferred facility, and were not likely to think that physicians tied to a hospital system were better quality physicians or that higher costs were an indicator of higher quality."   MORE >>

"Consistent with the proposal, the term ' IRA' includes health savings accounts (HSA) and certain other tax-advantaged trusts and plans. The final regulation includes owners of HSAs in the definition of ' retirement investor.' "   MORE >>