On January 9, 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the City and County of San Francisco (the “City”) could implement the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (the “Ordinance”) pending the outcome of the City’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that the Ordinance was preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security […]

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued the long awaited new proposed regulations governing the operation of cafeteria plans under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 125”) on August 6, 2007. These new proposed regulations (“proposed regulations”) reflect numerous changes in the tax laws that have occurred over the past two decades, incorporate prior […]

Seven years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Erie County Retirees Ass’n v. County of Erie, 220 F.3d 193 (3d Cir. 2000) (“Erie County”) held that the employer-sponsored medical plans at issue discriminated on the basis of age by providing lesser health coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees than they provided to […]

On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (the “Act”) (H.R. 6111, Public Law 109–432). The Act includes a number of provisions intended to make Health Savings Accounts (“HSAs”) more attractive, such as new contribution limits and rules providing for rollovers from health flexible spending accounts (health […]

The Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (“Departments”) issued final nondiscrimination regulations (the “regulations”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) on December 13, 2006. These regulations finalize the 2001 interim rules on the group health plan nondiscrimination provisions and the proposed regulations on wellness programs. The regulations […]

On July 11, 2006, the IRS issued Notice 2006–69 (“Notice”) which provides further guidance regarding the use of debit cards, credit cards and stored value cards to reimburse participants in health flexible spending accounts (“health FSAs”), health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) and dependent care assistance programs (“DCAPs”). In addition to expanding on the electronic payment card […]

Since the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204 (2002), plan administrators in many states have been unable, for all practical purposes, to enforce reimbursement and subrogation provisions contained in their welfare plans. Some federal courts took a more relaxed view of Knudson and permitted plans […]

A new voluntary prescription drug benefit called Medicare Part D was established by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (the “Act”). Beginning January 1, 2006, Medicare Part D plans will be available to individuals who are eligible for Medicare. This article describes the notice obligations for plan sponsors that sponsor or […]

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently relaxed the “use it or lose it” rule that applies to Section 125 cafeteria plans (“Section 125 Plan”), by allowing an additional 2½ month “grace period” following the end of a Section 125 Plan’s plan year. During the grace period, a participant may incur expenses that may be paid […]

On January 28, 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final regulations on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (the “Act”). As discussed in our previous article on this topic, the Act makes prescription drug coverage, called Part D, available to certain Medicare-eligible retirees beginning January 1, 2006. […]

On December 30, 2004, the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services jointly issued final and proposed regulations governing the group health plan portability provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Applicable to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2005 (i.e., January […]

On December 8, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (“the Act”). Among other things, the Act makes prescription drug coverage available to retirees through Medicare beginning in 2006. The new prescription drug coverage, termed Part D, is available to retirees eligible for Medicare Part A […]

The Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (“the Act”) was signed into law on October 4, 2004. The Act provides a uniform definition of “child” that changes taxation of dependent coverage under health and accident plans effective January 1, 2005. This article provides a summary of some of the major changes impacting employee benefit […]

Health Savings Accounts (“HSAs”) were introduced in December 2003 as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (the “Act”). We described the main features of HSAs in our January 2004 issue of Benefits Report, available at www.truckerhuss.com. Since HSAs were introduced, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the […]

The California Department of Insurance and a federal district court have both recently held that the use of so called “discretionary clauses” in disability insurance policies, including those issued to plans governed by ERISA, violates California law and that the state law in this regard is not preempted by ERISA. A discretionary clause in an […]