Week of September 20, 2024 | SSG Insights

Final Rules Under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

On Sept. 9, 2024, the U.S. Departments of HHS, DOL and IRS (collectively, the Departments) released new final rules implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The final rule updates the way the Departments determine whether health plans treat mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits differently than medical and surgical (M/S) benefits. The rules significantly impact employers and their responsibilities relating to group health plans.

Health Plans Must Update HIPAA Policies for New Reproductive Health Care Rights

A new HIPAA rule heightens privacy protections for reproductive health care, beginning Dec. 23, 2024. Employers with self-insured health plans and employers with fully insured health plans that have access to protected health information should take steps to comply the new privacy protections.

All Draft Forms & Instructions for ACA Reporting Now Available

In July 2024, the IRS released draft 2024 forms for reporting under Internal Revenue Code Sections 6055 and 6056. Thereafter, on Sept. 4, 2024, and Sept. 13, 2024, respectively, the draft instructions for the B series forms and C series forms were released. This Legal Update provides more details.

WEBINAR: Best Practices for a Successful Open Enrollment

Attend our upcoming October 8th webinar to learn how federal and state laws impact open enrollment period.