Under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), employers that offer prescription drug coverage on a group basis are required to provide annual notice to both employees/covered individuals and to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…

Tufts Health Freedom Plan and Northeast Delta Dental announced a new partnership with the goal of improving the overall health of plan members. Tufts Health Freedom Plan and Northeast Delta Dental will work to identify opportunities for care coordination to…

The transitional reinsurance program is intended to help stabilize premiums for coverage in the individual market during the first three years of Exchange operation (2014, 2015 and 2016). The fees apply to plans that provide major medical coverage. This program…

On Aug. 29, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2018. This proposed rule describes benefit and payment parameters under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), applicable for the…

Health insurer Community Health Options will withdraw its business from New Hampshire in 2017. The company, which is domiciled in Maine, is regulated by the Maine Bureau of Insurance. The Bureau has closely monitored Health Options since it began reporting…

As reported by The National Law Review, Massachusetts legislature passed a pay equity bill aimed at closing the gender wage gap and promoting equal pay for "comparable work" among men and women. The law will take effect July 1, 2018.…

As reported by the New Hampshire Insurance Department (NHID), employers in New Hampshire may pay less for workers compensation insurance in 2017 because of a recent filing lowering rates and loss-cost factors insurance companies use to develop pricing. The National…

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has completed its mailing of the 2016 EEO-1 Survey notification letters. The survey requires company employment data to be categorized by race/ethnicity, gender and job category. The survey requires the following employers to file…

New Hampshire employers with less than 50 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees who have a group health plan that was issued prior to 1/1/14 have what is considered a grandmothered plan. Anthem is allowing 4th quarter grandmothered plans to renew…

On July 21, 2016, a proposed rule was published seeking to change the Form 5500 annual return/report that is filed by employee benefit plans. In general, the changes are expected to apply for plan years beginning on or after Jan.…

As reported by the New York Times and the Union Leader, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the federal government filed lawsuits to block the proposed merger between Anthem/Cigna, and a similar merger between Aetna/Humana. “If these mergers were to…

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released 2016 draft forms for reporting under Internal Revenue Code (Code) Sections 6055 and 6056. These 2016 forms are draft versions only, and should not be filed with the IRS or relied upon for…