Roughly a year ago, we reported on a district court judge’s determination that the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) individual mandate was unconstitutional and that, therefore, the entire ACA was invalid. A detailed summary of the district court’s decision can be found in our December 17, 2018 post. Not surprisingly, this ruling was appealed to
Affordable Care Act
“Cadillac Tax” on High-Cost Group Health Plans Repealed
By Damian A. Myers on
On December 20, 2019, the President signed into law the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020” (the “Act”). Among many other things, the Act repeals the Affordable Care Act’s controversial 40% excise tax on high-cost health care (commonly referred to as the “Cadillac Tax”). From an economic perspective, the Cadillac Tax was intended to generate tax…
IRS Extends ACA Reporting Deadline and Issues Transition Relief
By Damian A. Myers on
The IRS has not yet finalized the ACA reporting forms (i.e., the 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C) for the 2019 tax year, so it is no surprise that the IRS issued guidance this week extending the deadline to furnish the forms to employees and covered individuals (see Notice 2019-63). In addition to extending the deadline to…
New HRA Regulations Part 5 – More on the Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate
By Damian A. Myers, Kaitlin Hulbert & Malerie Bulot on
On September 30th, the IRS issued proposed regulations that establish safe harbors for compliance with the employer mandate in the context of individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (or “ICHRAs”). These proposed regulations are important for employers that choose to offer ICHRAs and want to be sure they comply with the employer shared responsibility…
New Jersey Individual Mandate Requires State Filings in March 2020
The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate (i.e., the requirement that most individuals obtain adequate health insurance or pay a penalty) is dead. A side effect of the ACA mandate’s demise is that states are beginning to step-in and pass their own versions of the individual mandate. Massachusetts, of course, has long had an individual mandate…
Digging into the New HRA Regulations, Part 3 – Premium Tax Credit and Employer Mandate Impact on Individual Coverage HRAs
By Damian A. Myers, Kaitlin Hulbert & Malerie Bulot on
As part of our ongoing series on the final regulations expanding the availability of health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”), we discussed the newly-created Individual Coverage HRAs, which generally allow for employers to reimburse employees’ premiums for health coverage purchased on the individual market. As noted in the final regulations, the new Individual Coverage HRA is…
Digging into the New HRA Regulations, Part 2 – ERISA Implications
By Damian A. Myers & Jennifer Rigterink on
New regulations issued by the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have expanded the use of health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”) by allowing reimbursements for individual market insurance premiums. As noted in the final regulations, Individual Coverage HRAs and Excepted Benefit HRAs are group health plans subject to ERISA. However, individual health insurance…
Executive Order Seeks to Improve Consumer-Driven Healthcare
On June 24, 2019, the President issued his Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First. The Executive Order directs regulators to take action to improve healthcare price transparency and to enhance consumer-driven healthcare. The success of consumer-driven healthcare is dependent on patients being able to act as…
Digging into the New HRA Regulations Part 1 – Individual Coverage HRAs
By Damian A. Myers, Kaitlin Hulbert & Malerie Bulot on
As discussed in our June 18th blog entry, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) recently released final regulations expanding the use of health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”). Among the more important aspects of the final regulations was the reversal of long-standing Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) policy that…
Departments Publish Final Regulations Expanding the Availability of HRAs
By Damian A. Myers, Kaitlin Hulbert & Malerie Bulot on
On June 13, 2019, the Department of Labor, together with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”), published final regulations designed to expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”). The final regulations provide, in general, that HRAs may be used to (1) reimburse premiums for…