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Sunday, December 3, 2023

Employers Weigh Coverage of Weight Loss Drugs

Employers once again face a rather expensive healthcare conundrum.  The prevalence of so called “GLP-1 drugs”, prescribed ostensibly for weight loss, is causing many to question the cost versus benefit aspect of these drugs.  GLP-1 drugs are showing promise at delivering on the goal of weight loss, but they have not been around long enough to evaluate their long term side effects.  And while demand for these drugs is definitely on the rise, they come at a very high price point.

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Friday, June 2, 2023

Insulin Prices Capped by Eli Lilly

After a six year legal battle, drug maker Eli Lilly has agreed to a settlement valued at up to $500 million.  Relatively recently, Congress has taken a keen interest in some of the practices of both manufacturers of prescription drugs, and so called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).  Eli Lilly is one of the nation’s oldest manufacturers of prescription drugs, and is largely identified by its introduction of Prozac to market in 1988.  Here are the details of the settlement, which benefits virtually anyone who was prescribed insulin made by Eli Lilly from January 1, 2009 to the date of the settlements final approval –

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Sunday, April 9, 2023

Court Ruling Impacts ACA’s Preventive Healthcare Benefits

The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive care mandate has been partially struck down by a federal district judge.  On March 30, 2023 the ruling made portions of the preventive care benefit unconstitutional nationwide.  The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed the decision, so there is likely more to come out of this ruling.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2023

COVID Public Health/National Emergency Period Expiring – Impact on Health Insurance

The federal government has announced the current COVID-19 related Public Health Emergency and National Emergency periods will expire on May 11, 2023.  These periods were officially opened and recognized by the government effective January 27, 2020, and were designed to make it easier for the nation to deal with the pandemic. Employers need to prepare for the resumption of the guidance that was in place and changed, during the national state of emergency.

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Thursday, September 1, 2022

UPDATE: Employers Be Aware of the Family Glitch!

One of the chief aims of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to address the  challenge associated with finding and purchasing affordable individual health insurance, for those that have no other option for coverage. Some might recall when there was both an INDIVIDUAL and an EMPLOYER mandate, associated with the ACA.  While there is no longer a tax penalty associated with going uninsured (i.e., the individual mandate), there is very much still an opportunity for people to purchase subsidized health insurance coverage through the ACA’s exchanges.  And, with the expected and pending fix of the so called “family glitch”, millions of people will become eligible for subsidized coverage.  Importantly, and speaking of the ACA’s “employer mandate”, employers will need to rethink and possibly restructure premium cost sharing strategies associated with  their group health insurance plan offerings!  

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Thursday, December 16, 2021

Expanded List of Qualified HSA/FSA/HRA Expenses

As we approach the end of the year, and for some, the deadline to “use or lose” some or all of their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) balances, we’d like to make stakeholders aware of the expanded IRS list of qualified expenses.

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Monday, March 22, 2021

American Rescue Plan Act Impact on Employee Benefits

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) signed into law by the President on March 11, 2021 impacts a number of employee benefits related items.  For our purposes, this blog post will focus on 4 main areas of impact: 1. COBRA subsidies; 2. Dependent Care FSA (DCA/FSA) changes; 3. Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) changes impacting paid time off; and 4. Employee Retention Tax Credits.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021

Incentivizing COVID-19 Vaccination at the Workplace

As COVID-19 vaccines become more available, employers may want to consider their options with respect to incentivizing employees to get the shot(s).  And as is usually the case in the world of employee benefits…employers need to proceed with caution and care as they ruminate on this matter.  Here are some important considerations relative to encouraging employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 –

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Friday, February 12, 2021

Tax Preferred Student Loan Repayment Programs

The COVID-19 pandemic related CARES Act granted tax preferred status to loan repayment employee benefits.  Referred to as loan repayment assistance programs – LRAPs or EAPs (educational assistance programs), this new tax preferred benefit is available through 2025 (unless extended), thanks to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) which was signed by the President toward the end of December, 2020.  LRAPs/EAPs provide employers with yet another employee recruitment and retention tool, but there are important considerations.

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Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Covid-19 Related Spending Account Accommodations

The federal government has now provided employers with additional relaxations affecting tax preferred, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.  These relaxations come about as a result of the passage into law of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.  It’s important to note that these FSA changes are not mandatory either in total or individually.  Employers may opt to amend their FSA plans to allow any or all of these provisions, but are not compelled to do so.