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.…
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……
Following the Spokane federal court’s partial grant of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) motion to strike Associated Industries defenses and arguments against the DOL motion, the association plan ERISA case heads toward mediation and potential settlement. “At the request of the parties, the Court is referring this matter to Senior Judge Lonny R. Suko for…
