The Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act of 2023 continues to move through Congress with bipartisan support. The bill supports continued access to telehealth services beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing employers to offer standalone telehealth coverage for workers, including part-time, seasonal, and contract workers. The bill aims to increase access to mental health services, remedy provider shortages, Read More

The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), an employer advocacy group, has requested guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Treasury for implementing SECURE 2.0. In a recent letter, ERIC explained that the group was asking for guidance and regulations designed to increase efficiency, decrease burdensome plan administration, and ultimately, create better benefits for plan Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has stayed the trial court’s ruling in Braidwood v. Becerra, pending appeal by the U.S. government, by the parties' agreement. Braidwood concerns the constitutionality of the preventive health services mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). More specifically, the case addresses the legality of the insurance coverage required by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Read More

Ford Motor Company has filed suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield, accusing the health insurer of conspiring to fix prices to reduce competition and violating antitrust laws. More specifically, Ford claims that the Blue Cross scheme to reduce competition between entities deprived it of the opportunity to purchase health insurance coverage from lower-cost competitors or at costs determined by the free market. As a Read More

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has agreed to settle a proposed ERISA class action lawsuit pending in a North Carolina federal district court. In Garnick et al. v. Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center et al., former employees claimed that plan administrators had violated their fiduciary duties under ERISA in administering the $2 billion retirement plan covering about 30,000 participants. The Read More

A New Jersey federal district court has ruled in a case involving an employer's alleged failure to notify a former employee of her COBRA rights or promptly process her request for continued health coverage. The case is Davis v. World Ins. Assocs., LLC, 2023 WL 2665727 (D.N.J. 2023). Davis filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against her former employer. Her claims included allegations concerning the adequacy Read More

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reportedly has abandoned its appeal in the case of American Securities Association [“ASA”] v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 8:22-cv-00330 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 13, 2023). In ASA, a Florida federal district court, consistent with a similar ruling by a New York federal district court, rejected a critical DOL interpretation of its fiduciary rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Read More

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued FAQs in March that looked toward the end of the national COVID-19 emergency, which was set to expire on May 11, 2023. However, the Biden administration opted to end the national emergency early, on April 10, 2023. Nonetheless, the DOL has indicated that it will not alter its March guidance regarding the outbreak period, which is 60 days following the end of the national Read More

UnitedHealthcare, Oxford Health Plans, LLC, and Oxford Health Insurance, Inc. are facing a lawsuit under ERISA and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a Connecticut federal district court concerning the alleged reversal of an approved claim. The plaintiffs allege that the companies denied coverage for midwife services after initially approving the care as in-network. Plaintiffs Jonathan A. Winter, Rebecca E. Moore, Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed the decision of a trial court finding that the third-party administrator (TPA) of a self-insured multiemployer health plan was not an ERISA fiduciary. The case is Mass. Laborers’ Health and Welfare Fund v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mass., 2023 WL 3069637 (1st Cir. 2023). Based on its administrative activities, the plan argued that the TPA was an ERISA Read More