I know it sounds crazy, but it did happen. This past Friday, President Trump issued an executive order that extends an Obama policy initiative to help small employers. In 2017, the Obama administration explored expansion of retirement plans for small businesses by proposing expansion of multiple employer plans for pensions (MEPs). In the Department of…
They said they would and they did. Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor (DOL) challenging DOL regulations liberalizing standards for creation and operation of Association Health Plans (AHPs). The complaint mirrors objections and comments submitted to DOL by a group of seventeen state attorneys general before the final rules were adopted.…
O.K., deep breath…slow down…no need to hyper-ventilate. Even if association health plans sold to small employers won’t include all of the “essential health benefits” mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that doesn’t mean the plans can be designed free from any regulatory constraints. Washington State association health plans will not suddenly appear on the…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations liberalizing standards for association health plans (AHPs) that DOL will recognize as single, large group health plans. The final regulations permit a more tenuous connection among participating employers and allow sole proprietors without employees to be considered employers. But the biggest change is the creation of…
In my review of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rules liberalizing association health plan (AHP) standards, I promised future articles exploring legal and other issues related to the rules. But a flood of public comments and analysis from smart people leaves me with a different task – attempting to distill these comments and explain…
Bless their hearts, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued proposed regulations to improve access to association health plan markets. Their two biggest ideas for improvement are to force existing bona fide associations to stop risk rating health plan coverage at the employer level and to start counting individuals as groups. Where to begin……
