Insights

On February 3, 2022, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the state's public health emergency proclamation for COVID-19 would end on February 15, 2022, which was initially signed in March 2020. Though most of the provisions that are expiring apply to healthcare settings, employers should be aware of the changes. Proclamation of Disaster Emergency, February 3, 2022 »

On January 28, 2022, the IRS released Notice 2022-8, which sets forth the 2022 Cumulative List of Changes for § 403(b) Pre-approved Plans (2022 Cumulative List). The 2022 Cumulative List is designed to assist § 403(b) pre-approved plan providers applying to the IRS for opinion letters for the second remedial amendment cycle (Cycle 2) under the IRS 403(b) pre-approved plan program. In Rev. Proc. 2021-37, the IRS outlined the procedures for issuing opinion letters for section 403(b) pre-approv

The IRS recently released Form 8889, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and the related instructions. Form 8889 is used to report HSA contributions, figure HSA deductions and report HSA distributions. It is also used to assess amounts individuals must include in income and pay in additional taxes for distributions for non-qualified expenses or for failures to remain HSA eligible for the testing period after contributing under the 'last month' rule. The 2021 Form 8889 and instructions are lik

The IRS recently released the 2022 IRS Publication 15-B, the Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits. This publication provides an overview of the taxation of fringe benefits and applicable exclusion, valuation, withholding and reporting rules. The IRS updates Publication 15-B each year to reflect any recent legislative and regulatory developments. Additionally, the revised version provides the applicable dollar limits for various benefits for the upcoming year. The business mileage rate for

Effective January 31, 2022, the state Health Authority approved a permanent administrative order (No. PH 11-2022) requiring that healthcare providers and staff must be fully vaccinated in a healthcare setting unless they have provided documentation of a medical or religious exception. "Fully vaccinated" means having received both doses of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or one dose of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, and at least 14 days have passed since the individual's final dose of the COVID-19

On December 30, 2021, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Commerce (Commerce) (jointly, the 'departments') issued Administrative Bulletin 2021-3. The bulletin states that the departments prohibit entities that deliver or issue individual or group health policies in the state from discriminating against individuals because of their gender identity or expression. These entities cannot discriminate in the provision of health insurance benefits or in the availab

If you're taking to heart this global discussion, and you're truly looking to shake up your benefits program and bring more personalization, you'll need a good understanding of why businesses are having to adapt and change and rethink what they're doing. To discuss exactly that, NFP's Mark Rieder and Justin DelVecchio offered polls and addressed chats in an interactive conversation about hyper-personalization in digitalization and digitization (there's a difference and they explain it!). You c

The DOL, Department of the Treasury and HHS recently released the 2022 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) Report to Congress, which is delivered every two years. In conjunction with the report, the DOL's EBSA published a fact sheet summarizing MHPAEA enforcement efforts for fiscal year 2021. The EBSA Fact Sheet provides general statistics related to group health plans. EBSA estimates there are two million employment-based group health plans covering 137 million participants

Employers must report the creditable status of their prescription drug plan coverage to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within 60 days after the start of the medical plan year (policy year or contract year, regardless of the ERISA plan year). Plan sponsors must also provide the Notice to Part D Eligible Individuals on the occurrence of five different events: On an annual basis prior to October 15 (the first day of the Medicare enrollment period). Thus, the notice must