Benefits Forward

The DOL releases a FAQ on the Mental Health Parity Act for employees. Document Excerpt The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) was signed into law on October 3, 2008 and became effective for plan years beginning on or after October 3, 2009. MHPAEA greatly expands on an earlier law, the [...]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and HHS have published its final rule governing Medical Loss Ratio requirements. Document Excerpt This final rule amends the regulations implementing medical loss ratio (MLR) standards for health insurance issuers under the Public Health Service Act in order to establish notice requirements for issuers in the group and individual [...]

The DOL’s website has been updated with a corrected sample completed Summary of Benefits and Coverage Template. Document Excerpt Link http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/correctedsbctemplate.pdf

The DOL has updated its website to include its most recent FAQ regarding implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Document Excerpt Set out below are additional Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding implementation of the summary of benefits and coverage (SBC) provisions of the Affordable Care Act. These FAQs have been prepared jointly by the Departments [...]

The DOL has issued a list of Frequently Asked Questions on implementation of the Mental Health Parity Act. Document Excerpt The Departments of Labor, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services (HHS) (collectively, the Departments), administer MHPAEA together with the States. This document provides basic information about the Departments’ MHPAEA implementation efforts. Link http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-mhpaeaimplementation.html

Field Assistance Bulletin 2012-02  provides additional guidance on the requirements to comply with the participant-level disclosure. It also serves as additional guidance under 408(b)(2). Document Excerpt On October 20, 2010, the Department of Labor (Department) published a final regulation(1) requiring plan administrators to disclose certain plan and investment-related information, including fee and expense information, to participants [...]

The agencies issue CCIIO Technical Guidance 2012-002: Questions and Answers Regarding the Medical Loss Ratio regulation. Document Excerpt This Bulletin provides MLR guidance on the following topics: • Applicability of the Medical Loss Ratio to Certain Types of Plans • Employer Groups of One • Counting Employees for Determining Market Size • Individual Association Policies [...]

HHS has released a proposed rule to adopt a standard for a national unique health plan identifier (HPID). Document Excerpt It proposes the adoption of the standard for a national unique health plan identifier (HPID) and requirements or provisions for the implementation of the HPID. This rule also proposes the adoption of a data element [...]

 HHS proposes to adopt an “other entity identifier” under HIPAA. Document Excerpt A proposed rule announced today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would establish a unique health plan identifier (HPID) under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) standards for electronic health care transactions.  Further, the rule would adopt [...]

This Field Assistance Bulletin discusses the use by apprenticeship and training programs of plan assets for such things as graduation ceremonies. Document Excerpt In the course of EBSA’s investigations of some apprenticeship and training plans, questions have arisen about the use of plan assets to pay for graduation ceremonies and for advertising expenses. The Regional Offices have [...]