Health Care

Survey results seem to indicate that large employers will not hold up plan design changes in 2011 in order to keep grandfather status. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) surveyed the largest employers to determine what changes to plan design they are planning for 2011.

Employers that offer adoption assistance and employees who take advantage of it — or who claim the adoption tax credit — need to make adjustments that reflect provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the PPACA) that increase the employer-provided adoption assistance exclusion and the adoption tax credit.

Employers no longer have to worry about being the first to enroll in the new Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), according to a recent government notice about how the $5 billion federal fund will be distributed.

A new provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act requiring employers to provide reasonable unpaid breaks to nursing moms so they can express breast milk for their infants took effect March 23, says a new fact sheet from the U.

The health reform law's new restrictions on pre-existing condition exclusions, coverage rescissions and lifetime or annual limits were fleshed out in interim final rules from the U. S. Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Labor (DOL).

In its interim final rules on grandfathered plan status, the government's goal appears to be to maximize the number of companies covered by insurance mandates and maximize the circumstances under which companies lose grandfather status.

The IRS released new guidance on May 17 detailing how small businesses can determine whether they are eligible for the new health care tax credit under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law signed in March.

The Obama Administration should delay enforcement of new regulations under the health care reform law for six months to give employers time to adjust to its new mandates, said thirteen business organizations in a recent letter to administration officials.

Employers with cafeteria plans may immediately permit employees to begin making pre-tax salary reduction contributions to provide coverage for children under age 27 under the health care reform law, even if the plan has not yet been amended to cover those individuals, the IRS explained in Notice 2010-38 issued on April 27.

Plan sponsors will need to thoroughly review the participant information they are collecting and using, to make sure they're meeting tight new controls on information considered "genetic," a benefits attorney said in a recent audio conference on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).