Three federal agencies – the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Treasury (Treasury), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) – released joint proposed rules designed to amend existing rules under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The proposed rules also fulfill the mandate of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA, 2021) to implement nonquantitative Read More

A Delaware federal judge heard arguments recently on Elon Musk’s motion to dismiss all claims against him personally in a lawsuit filed by former Twitter employees over severance benefits. The case is Arnold et al. v. X Corp. et al., case number 1:23-cv-00528, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Musk argued that he did not sign off on the provisions of the 2022 Twitter takeover deal concerning Read More

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued 395 pages of proposed rules designed to guide group health plans on compliance with mental health parity laws. These rules clarify that the Biden administration intends to restrict plans’ use of nonquantitative limits on mental health and substance use disorder Read More

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the settlement of a class action Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) lawsuit for more than $124.6 million on behalf of the more than 9,000 participants in the DST Systems Inc. 401(k) plan. The DOL and private plaintiffs alleged that DST and other defendants, including New York City investment management firm Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb Inc., had failed Read More

The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury recently issued joint FAQs (Part 60) concerning the implementation of specific provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Title I of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the No Surprises Act). The purpose of these FAQs is to address overlap in some areas of the ACA and the No Surprises Act. The first Read More

Kraft Heinz Co. has filed an ERISA lawsuit against Aetna Inc. in a Texas federal court. Aetna provides claims processing and adjudication services for Kraft Heinz, which self-funds its employees’ and retirees’ medical expenses. Under ERISA, Aetna has a fiduciary duty to properly identify, deny, and prevent the payment of any provider claims that are false or improperly submitted. Kraft Heinz claims that Aetna Read More

A group of former Twitter employees laid off after Elon Musk took over the company recently filed a proposed class action lawsuit in a California federal court. The former employees allege that Twitter failed to pay laid-off employees more than $500 million in severance according to the company's ERISA-governed severance plan, which Musk promised would remain in effect. The Twitter severance plan provided Read More

President Joe Biden recently announced initiatives to lower consumer healthcare costs and crack down on “junk” short-term insurance policies. The Biden administration plans to place significant limits on the short-term insurance policies that are supposed to provide temporary coverage as people transition between jobs but often deny basic health care coverage. The goal is to close existing loopholes that currently Read More

After a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision found that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had wrongfully cut prescription drug prices for 349B-covered hospitals between 2018 and 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to return $9 billion in underpayments to those 1,600 hospitals. The 340B Drug Pricing Program requires drug companies to offer outpatient Read More

Due to the end of the COVID-19 public health and national emergencies, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued guidance to high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) in the form of Notice 2023-37. This notice provides guidance on COVID-19 expenses for and clarifies items and services related to preventive care under health savings account (HSA) eligibility rules. Under its 2020 guidance, the IRS allowed HDHPs to Read More