Information

Federal: Enacted Legislation/New Regulations

• On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law HR 2647 – Defense Department Fiscal Year 2010 authorization bill – that further expands Family and Medical Leave Act coverage for families of employees in the military. Under the new law, employees will be allowed to take up to 12 weeks of leave when a spouse, child or parent on active military duty is deployed to a foreign country. In addition, the law allows employees to take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to take care of a child, spouse, parent or next of kin who was discharged from the military and whose military service aggravated a medical condition that existed prior to the service.
• Effective September 8, 2009, the IRS issued a final rule regarding an excise tax on an employer that fails to make comparable contributions to HSAs under section 4980G of the IRS Code and the provide guidance relating to the manner and method of reporting and paying the excise taxes required. These final rules affect employers that contribute to employees’ HSAs, employers that sponsor a group health plan and certain third parties responsible for providing benefits under the plan.
• Effective for group and individual plans after December 7, 2009, individual and group plans will need to comply with new rules related to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). The rules prevent health plans from:
  • Raising premiums based on the results of an individual’s genetic test;
  • Denying coverage or imposing pre-existing condition exclusions based on an individual’s or family’s genetic information;
  • Requiring an individual or family member to undergo a genetic test or provide genetic information for enrollment purposes, or at any time prior to the effective date of their coverage; and
  • Providing incentives under a wellness program based on the genetic information of the individual or family member provided on a health risk assessment