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A new proposed regulation represents the latest phase of the Administration’s efforts to reshape the American health care system.The proposed regulation, issued in response to President Trump’s October 12 executive order, opens the way to expand association health plans (AHPs). An AHP is a health plan sponsored by a group of unrelated employers, linked by factors such as a common...

The Senate has now passed its version of a revamp to the tax code (H.R. 1).The legislation makes significant changes to many provisions of the code, including dramatic changes to corporate and individual taxation. The bill now goes on to a conference committee to reconcile differences with the bill passed by the House of Representatives in November. Significantly, the rules...

The U.S. Department of Labor has taken a series of legal actions against a multiple employer welfare association (MEWA) plan operated by Black Wolf Consulting.The actions taken by the DOL against this plan (the AEU Holdings LLC Employee Benefits Plan) include freezing bank accounts, replacing the plan fiduciaries, and issuing an order to dozens of brokers to stop marketing the...

The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) remains on the books, despite all of the rhetoric about potential legislative and/or administrative changes. And, in a significant new development, the IRS is poised to begin levying penalties on employers, under the ACA’s employer mandate, for 2015. This is important for a number of reasons: •      Regardless of what happens in Washington, the rules for...

On October 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued new proposed regulations regarding the operation of health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Much of this 365-page document consists of more routine updates to rules governing the operation of exchanges under ACA. In addition to these routine provisions, however, the proposed regulations contain a number...

The proposed Tax Cut and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) has generated big news stories with big numbers, such as $1.0 trillion to lower some individual tax rates and $1.5 trillion to lower corporate tax rates. But, also lurking in the 430-page draft, are many important “smaller” provisions that will affect compensation and benefits programs. Overall, TCJA reduces federal revenue from individual...

October was a busy month in the battle over the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This blog post will discuss one aspect of this busy month - the presidential executive order (“EO”) issued by President Trump to facilitate use of alternative health coverages outside of the ACA rules. The EO directs the Departments of Treasury, Labor and Health...

A little over a year ago a series of lawsuits were filed against major universities. The lawsuits alleged that these schools violated their fiduciary obligations under ERISA by failing to properly manage plan costs and investment performance. In effect, these lawsuits were the higher ed/tax sheltered annuity version of the 401(k) litigation that has been going on for over a...

As the political battles over the possible repeal, replacement or repair of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) drag on, employers must come to grips with an unpleasant reality: they are likely to get the worst of all worlds for the foreseeable future. Here is what I mean by considering the ongoing health care limbo as the worst of all possible...

The Department of Labor recently filed a lawsuit against Macy’s department store (Acosta v. Macy’s, Inc., S.D. Ohio, No. 1:17-cv-00541, complaint filed 8/16/17). The lawsuit has received some attention among benefits professionals; but this attention has focused on one aspect of the DOL complaint - claims that the tobacco surcharge imposed under the Macy’s health plan did not meet the...