by Eric Keller and Roberta Casper Watson The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas declared earlier this month that a Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”)...
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Law Alerts | Roberta Casper Watson
Departments Consider Potential Safe Harbor for Nonquantitative Treatment Limitations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act Regarding Network Adequacy
By Dannae Delano, Roberta Casper Watson and Barry Salkin On July 25, the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) issued proposed regulations and other...
CMS Recommends Extension of Special Enrollment for Individuals Losing Medicaid and CHIP
By Roberta Watson, Dannae Delano and Barry Salkin Employers frequently provide group health plan coverage for their employees through pre-tax contributions to a cafeteria plan. Elections under a...
Departments Issue Guidance on No Surprises Act and Limitations on Cost Sharing Under the Affordable Care Act
By Dannae Delano, Roberta Watson and Barry Salkin In FAQ Part 60, the Departments of Health and Human Service, Treasury, and Labor (the “Departments”) addressed limitations on cost sharing under the...
Massachusetts Division of Insurance Provides Special Enrollment Period for Loss of COBRA Coverage
By Dannae Delano, Barry Salkin and Roberta Casper Watson As we have previously described in client alerts, the end of the National Emergency and the cessation of the outbreak period on July 10,...
Agencies Issue Guidance Regarding Effect of the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) and National Emergency (NE) on Benefits
By Barry Salkin, Dannae Delano and Roberta Casper Watson On January 31, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared that a nationwide public health emergency (PHE) had existed...
Departments Issue Guidance Requiring First Annual “Gag” Attestation by December 31, 2023
By Dannae Delano, Roberta Casper Watson and Barry Salkin The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”) is the most significant compliance challenge for employer health plan sponsors since the...
District Court Once Again Invalidates No Surprises Act Regulations
By Roberta Casper Watson, Dannae Delano and Barry Salkin The No Surprises Act directs the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) to establish a Federal...
Congress Enacts Respect for Marriage Act
By, Barry Salkin, Roberta Watson and Jon Schultze n the ordinary course, we would not be advising clients that a statute that a Supreme Court held unconstitutional nine years ago was being removed...
Federal Agencies Issue Group Health Plan Guidance
By Roberta Watson, Barry Salkin and Dannae Delano On December 23, 2022, new guidance applicable to group health plans was issued by federal agencies, as described more fully below. The Center for...
IRS Announces Expansion of Change in Status Rules for Cafeteria Plans
One of the basic rules under which cafeteria plans operate is that elections are irrevocable except in certain limited circumstances. Further, even when those limited circumstances apply, the change...
Agencies Request for Comments on Issues Related to New Disclosures Under the No Surprises Act Indicate the Importance of Informing Marginalized Populations and Maintaining Privacy of Advance Health Care Information
By Roberta Casper Watson, Dannae Delano and Barry Salkin It should come as no surprise that most Americans do not have the information available to them that is necessary to make informed decisions...
No Surprises in Agencies’ Reproposal of Independent Dispute Resolution Regulations on No Surprise Act Billing Arbitration
By Danae Delano, Roberta Watson and Barry Salkin Last November, we published a law alert regarding the first two rounds of regulatory guidance on the No Surprise Billing portion of the Consolidated...
Employer Responses to Overturning of Roe v. Wade
Many employers are considering how to respond to the recent ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which has given states the leeway to outlaw abortion. Employers may have employees who are on either side...
Longstanding IRS Administrative Practice Invalidated
When agencies take controversial regulatory actions, it can be anticipated that those actions will be challenged in federal district courts as soon as they become operative, if not before. In other...