HR Compliance / Legislation Updates

IRS Revises Guidance to Allow Expanded Mid-Year Cafeteria Plan Election Changes
Read Time: 3 Minutes

The IRS recently released revised guidance to permit employers to amend their cafeteria plans to allow mid-year election changes when an individual related to a plan participant is eligible to elect a qualified health plan on the Marketplace due to either a special enrollment period or during the Marketplace’s annual open enrollment period. Longstanding guidance had allowed such changes relating to covered employees, but recent legislation to address the so-called family glitch required the expanded guidance to permit changes when related individuals choose Marketplace coverage independent of the covered employee.

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WEBINAR: Year-End Compliance Reminders and a Look Ahead to 2023

Tuesday, December 13, 2022
2:00PM EST

Attend this month's webinar to learn about upcoming employee benefits compliance challenges employers will face.

Gain insights into 2023 and review final 2022 compliance requirements:

Contraceptive coverage requirements and reproductive healthcare
Prescription drug and healthcare reporting
Critical adjusted benefit limits

Be able to answer these questions:

What are the upcoming employer responsibilities for coverage transparency?
How are increased limits and higher fines for ACA reporting failures affecting employer and employee costs and risks?
What legislative and litigation issues may impact employers in 2023

In conjunction with our alliance with United Benefit Advisors, you have the opportunity to learn more about the latest compliance trends and regulations from one of the nation's leading employment and benefit law firms, Fisher Phillips. Normally the cost of the 60 minute Webinar is $200, but we are pleased to offer it to you free of charge. Simply click the blue button below to register, and be sure to use the coupon code UBA410EW.

November 2022 Compliance Recap

Read Time: 5 Minutes

In November, the IRS released revised guidance to address the so-called "family glitch," permitting employers to allow mid-year election changes when someone related to a plan participant is eligible to elect a qualified health plan on the Marketplace. This is also a good opportunity to review all of the change in status events that allow employees to make changes in a cafeteria plan.

Here are the topics covered in this recap:

CAFETERIA PLAN CHANGE IN STATUS EVENTS AND PERMISSIBLE EMPLOYEE ELECTION CHANGES
2023 ANNUAL BENEFIT CARD
IRS REVISES GUIDANCE TO ALLOW EXPANDED MID-YEAR CAFETERIA PLAN ELECTION CHANGES
PCORI FEE ADJUSTMENT ANNOUNCED

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Agencies Seek Public Comment on No Surprises Act Good Faith Estimate and Advanced Explanation of Benefits Provisions

Read Time: 8 Minutes

Congress enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), which includes the No Surprises Act (NSA), in December 2020. The NSA seeks to protect health care consumers against surprise billing and limits out-of-network cost sharing under many of the circumstances in which surprise bills typically arise... Keep Reading

Compliance Question of the Week

Q: Lately, we’ve noticed employees using wearable devices while working. We have a policy that limits personal cell phone use at work. Can we expand that to include wearables like smartwatches

A: Yes, you can expand your policy to include wearables or other smart devices that might cause distractions to your employees while they are working. Here are a few things to consider when revising your policies.