Alden Bianchi
Subscribe to Alden Bianchi's PostsAlden J. Bianchi is an experienced Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation lawyer who advises corporate, not-for-profit, governmental and individual clients on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters, including qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans. Read Alden Bianchi's full bio.
The ‘No More Restrictive’ Requirement for NQTLs Under the Proposed MHPAEA Regulations
By Alden Bianchi on Aug 29, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
We previously reported on proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). If adopted in final form, these regulations would vastly complicate compliance by group health plans and health insurance issuers with an already challenging set of mental health parity rules. The proposed regulations deal principally with non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs),...
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IRS Opines on the Tax Treatment of Employer-Funded, Insured, Fixed-Indemnity Wellness Policies
By Jacob Mattinson, Sarah Raaii, Alden Bianchi and Teal Trujillo on Aug 10, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
In light of recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance, employers should carefully examine any supplemental health plan, program or arrangement (which may or may not claim to leverage fixed indemnity insurance) that promises substantial payroll tax savings. In a legal advice memorandum, the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel addressed and rejected the claimed tax treatment...
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Treasury, DOL and HHS Issue Landmark Mental Health Parity Proposed Rule
By Alden Bianchi, Sarah Raaii and Jacob Mattinson on Aug 8, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
The US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) recently issued much-anticipated proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to better ensure that health plans allow access to mental health or substance use disorder benefits as easily as medical or surgical benefits. The proposed regulations...
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Agencies Issue FAQs on Surprise Billing and Cost-Sharing Rules Coordination
By Alden Bianchi on Jul 25, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
A recent article by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and National Public Radio (NPR) raised the prospect that patients may still see surprise medical bills despite the enactment of the No Surprises Act (NSA). The article, entitled A Surprise-Billing Law Loophole? Her Pregnancy Led to a Six-Figure Hospital Bill, reports the story of a woman...
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IRS Clarifies Status of Fixed-Indemnity Health Plans Claiming Big Tax Savings
By Alden Bianchi on Jul 20, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
A recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) memorandum addresses the tax status of certain fixed-indemnity health plans that promise employers major payroll tax savings. In this American Staffing Association article, Alden J. Bianchi summarizes the memorandum and outlines what employers need to know. Read the article.
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Fixing the ACA’s Family Glitch
By Alden Bianchi and Teal Trujillo on Jul 13, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
The “family glitch” was a regulatory oddity of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It required the affordability of an employer-sponsored health plan to be determined based solely on the cost of the plan to an individual employee, disregarding the costs to add family members to a plan. This resulted in many families being ineligible for...
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HIPAA Compliance 101: Lessons from a Recent OCR Settlement
By Alden Bianchi on Jul 10, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced a settlement with a community hospital resolving an investigation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy and security rules. While the settlement involved a medical provider, it offers some important lessons for other HIPAA-covered entities,...
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SECURE 2.0 Act and the Future of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System
By Alden Bianchi and Sarah L. Engle on Jul 6, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans, SECURE 2.0 Act
The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) allows employers to correct errors involving the maintenance and operation of tax-qualified retirement plans. The correction programs and options that make up EPCRS have, until now, been established exclusively in a series of IRS notices and revenue procedures dating back more than 30 years....
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IRS Issues Reminder that Claims Under Health and Dependent Care FSAs Must Be Substantiated
By Jacob Mattinson, Sarah Raaii, Alden Bianchi and Teal Trujillo on Jun 1, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a Chief Counsel Advice memorandum to remind sponsors of health and dependent care flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) about their responsibility to adequately substantiate claims in order to receive favorable tax treatment under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). The IRS emphasizes that the standards for...
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Buyer Beware: The Newest Wave of Hospital/Fixed Indemnity Programs Promising Payroll Tax Savings
By Alden Bianchi on May 31, 2023
Posted In Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans
For decades, promoters have marketed programs to employers seeking to leverage the favorable tax treatment accorded employer-provided medical benefits. These programs are variously described as “wellness” or “preventive services” arrangements, and they are usually wrapped in or offered with hospital indemnity policies. While varying in their design features and terminology, these programs all hold out...
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