On January 30th 2023, President Biden announced that both the public health emergency and the national health emergency declarations due to COVID-19 would expire simultaneously on May 11, 2023. Below outlines the impact to private health insurance once the emergencies expire. THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY (PHE) was initially declared by the Department of Health and [...]
In April, the DOL issued FAQs discussing the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) COBRA subsidy. The FAQs left many with questions that were not addressed in the DOL’s guidance. On May 18, 2021, the IRS issued its guidance in Notice 2021-31 and a series of 86 FAQs that solve many of the points left unanswered in the [...]
Early this month, the DOL issued the model notices to be used for the COBRA subsidy that is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In addition, the EBSA has issued FAQs that address some of the outstanding items surrounding the subsidy. This initial guidance does not include details on administering the employer tax credit [...]
On March 10th, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021(ARPA) was passed by both chambers of Congress and is expected to be signed by the President this week. The Act addresses several COVID relief provisions including another round of direct stimulus payments, unemployment compensation payments continuation, COVID-19 vaccine funds, and extension of the paycheck protection [...]
The Department of Labor (DOL) on February 26, 2021 issued the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 which provides guidance on the length of COVID-19 relief to be allowed under the Timeline Extension Rule. Background: On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency related to COVID-19 and established that the [...]
With nearly 40 million workers laid off or furloughed as a result of the Coronavirus, many organizations have urged Congress to expand COBRA coverage. Most of their concerns are focused on encouraging Congress to subsidize COBRA premiums for these workers so that existing health conditions will not get worse because care is delayed. To date, [...]
With businesses operating remotely and personnel working from home, it’s easy to miss certain important deadlines in this COVID-19 era, such as providing your COBRA Administrator with timely termination of coverage notices so that employees who have a COBRA qualifying event, such as termination of employment or reduction of hours, receive COBRA Election notices within [...]
On May 4th, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), a division of the Department of Labor, and the IRS filed a joint notice which extends numerous deadlines applicable to employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA. Health and Human Services (HHS) concurred with the notice thus extending its parameters to non-federal governmental plans as [...]
The CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27th, 2020, provides for Small Business Loans called the Paycheck Protection Program. These loans, later supplemented by the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, provide for up to $10M in forgivable loans to small businesses. Paycheck Protection Loans (PPL): In order to apply for [...]
In light of the nation's response to COVID-19 and the resultant economic downturn, employers of all sizes face a dilemma of evaluating employee head counts. Many employers are considering furloughs or temporary layoffs to reduce immediate payroll, hoping the downturn lasts for a period of a few weeks instead of months. Below is a list [...]
