Compliance Bulletin | October 2024

Welcome to the October 2024 edition of the Baldwin Bulletin, a compliance newsletter by the Baldwin Regulatory Compliance Collaborative (“BRCC”).

The Baldwin Bulletin serves as a monthly guide to important regulatory developments, legal news, and employee benefits-related industry happenings designed to keep you abreast of the latest developments.

This month’s issue focuses on important upcoming compliance deadlines and includes our timeline of upcoming compliance requirements, in addition to providing information regarding certain hot-button compliance issues significantly impacting employers.

Upcoming Compliance Deadlines. For information regarding upcoming compliance deadlines for employer-sponsored group health plans, read more here.

2024 HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule Training Calendar. This year’s BRCC HIPAA training calendar is available here.

2024 BRCC Educational Webinar Calendar. The BRCC’s monthly educational webinar series calendar for 2024 is available here.

The California Corner: Changes to the California Short-Term Disability Program. New to the Baldwin Bulletin will be a quarterly update on hot topic, California-related issues that will impact many California employees and may impact future legislation for other states.  This quarter’s update is a detailed review of the new California Short-Term Disability rules. Read more here.

The California Corner: SB 729, Treatment for Infertility and Fertility Services. On September 29, 2024, California’s governor Gavin Newsom signed sb 729 into law, changing the landscape of how infertility is covered under employer-sponsored, fully insured group health plans having a situs in California. The new law will be effective for groups renewing their health plans on or after July 1, 2025. Read more here.

Understanding Imputed Income. Imputed income is the value of any non-cash benefit or income an employee receives that is not part of their regular wages, which comes into play with some employee benefits. Read more here.

Nondiscrimination in Action – New BRCC White Paper Series. The BRCC is announcing a new white paper analytic series titled “Nondiscrimination in Action”. This series will feature a monthly publication of nondiscrimination standards and testing rules across the spectrum of health and welfare plan testing requirements. Read more here.

IRS Releases 2025 HSA, HDHP, and HRA Inflation Adjusted Limits for 2025. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2024-25, announcing the calendar year 2025 annual health savings account (“HSA”) contribution limitation, the minimum deductible for a high-deductible health plan (“HDHP”), the maximum out-of-pocket expense limits for an HDHP, and the maximum amount for an excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”). Read more here.

Employee Lawsuits Claim Tobacco Surcharge Violates ERISA and HIPAA Non-Discrimination. The non-discrimination rules in federal laws such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) prohibit the consideration of “health factors” in providing employee health plans, are tested by employees subject to a tobacco-use surcharge on their premiums.  New lawsuits filed in 2023 and 2024 claim that a tobacco surcharge violates the non-discrimination rule by targeting a group of employees based on their health status, which they are required to disclose. Employers include Walmart, Inc., GardaWorld Cash Services, Inc., Advocate Aurora Health Inc., and Sodexo North America. Read more here.

October Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Ensure Your Cybersecurity Preparedness Plan is in Place. Since 2004, October has been declared as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It is a collaborative effort between government and industry to enhance cybersecurity awareness, encourage actions by the public to reduce online risk and generate discussion on cyber threats on a national and global scale. Read more here.

HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. On June 20, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released additional educational resources related to its final rule modifying certain provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to support reproductive health care privacy in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, as well as to several subsequent state-level abortion bans. The new rulemaking strengthens protections concerning the use and disclosure of reproductive health care information. Read more here.

Medicare Part D Annual Disclosure Due Before October 15. Employers that offer prescription drug coverage must provide notices of “creditable” or “non-creditable” coverage to Medicare-eligible employees or covered dependents at least annually, typically before the beginning of each year’s Medicare Part D annual enrollment period. Read more here.

Question of the Month. Our “Question of the Month” concerns electronic delivery of required annual notices. Read more here.