On July 17, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2019-45, which expands the definition of preventive care benefits that can be provided by a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to include certain chronic conditions. The guidance in the Notice may be relied upon immediately. In general, most HDHP participants may establish and contribute [Read More]
On June 24, 2019, President Trump issued an Executive Order intending to develop price and quality transparency initiatives to ensure that healthcare patients can make well-informed decisions about their care. This is part of the consumer-driven healthcare initiative, which has been a focus of government and patient groups alike to have more transparency regarding the [Read More]
On June 13, 2019 the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department (the “Departments”) released the final rule concerning health reimbursement arrangements (HRA) for individual market coverage and excepted health benefits. The rule, based on an executive order from President Trump in 2017, is intended to increase choice [Read More]
At the end of May, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule to revise regulations previously released under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The HHS goal with the proposed rule is to remove what the department views as redundancies and inconsistencies with other laws, as well as [Read More]
On March 25, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a one-year extension to the transition policy (originally announced November 14, 2013 and extended five times since) for individual and small group health plans that allows issuers to continue policies that do not meet ACA standards. The transition policy has been extended [Read More]
On Friday, December 14, a federal judge in Texas issued a partial ruling that strikes down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional. The White House has stated that the law will remain in place, however, pending the appeal process. The case, Texas v. U.S., will be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals [Read More]
In Rev. Proc. 2018-30, the IRS released 2019 HSA Contribution Limits regarding inflation-adjusted amounts for 2019 relevant to HSAs and high deductible health plans (HDHPs). The table below summarizes those adjustments and other applicable limits. Out-of-Pocket Limits Applicable to Non-Grandfathered Plan The ACA’s out-of-pocket limits for in-network essential health benefits have also been announced and [Read More]
Employers that sponsor self-insured group health plans, including health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) should keep in mind the upcoming July 31, 2018 deadline for paying fees that fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). As background, the PCORI was established as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to conduct research to evaluate the effectiveness of [Read More]