Each week, you’ll find specially curated news articles to keep you up to date on the ever-evolving world of insurance and risk management. The articles are divided out between items relevant to Property & Casualty, Employee Benefits/Human Resources, and Compliance. We’ve included brief summaries of each item as well as a link to the original articles.
PROPERTY & CASUALTY
Q1 Net Income Up 21% at The Hartford but Personal Lines Unprofitable
“The Hartford Financial Services reported first quarter 2023 net income of $535 million, nearly a 21% increase over $443 million a year ago. In the company’s property/casualty segments, results were carried by net income of $421 million in commercial lines — offsetting a loss of $1 million in personal lines during the first three months. A year ago, Q1 net income in commercial was $383 million and $77 million in personal.” Full Article
– Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
Courts Continue to Scrutinize ERISA Health Plan Benefit Denial Letters “In asking the administrator to ensure the denial letters accurately reflect the administrator record, the court, is requiring the administrator to refrain from standard, stock language and draft a more personalized explanation for denying benefits.” Full Article – Troutman Pepper, via Lexology
The Disconnect: More View Health Savings Accounts as Investment Accounts Than Use Them This Way “The majority (62 percent) of health savings account (HSA) accountholders reported that they are using the account to pay for out-of-pocket expenses. And most (69 percent) viewed the HSA as a savings account.” Full Article – Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI]
New Guidance on Gag Clause Attestation “To ensure compliance with the Gag Clause Prohibition, plans must annually submit an attestation of compliance with the law to the Departments. The Departments have now launched a website for submitting attestations and issued instructions, a system user manual, and a Reporting Entity Excel Template for plans and issuers to submit the required Compliance Attestation.” Full Article – Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Court Rejects Mental Health Parity Claim for Wilderness Therapy Coverage Denial “Noting that a successful MHPAEA claim requires a participant to plead facts showing a disparity in the plan’s treatment of MH/ SUD and medical/surgical benefits, the court concluded that the participant’s allegation was unsupported and contradicted plan language expressly applying the exclusion to both types of benefits.” Full Article – Thomson Reuters/EBIA
IRS Clarifies Ability to Reimburse Certain Programs Under HSAs, FSAs and HRAs “Programs to treat a drug-related substance use disorder, programs to treat an alcohol use disorder, and smoking cessation programs qualify as medical care because the programs are considered treatment for a disease. However, therapy, nutritional counseling, and weight-loss programs will only be considered medical care if used to treat a specific disease (e.g. obesity). Programs for general health or wellbeing will not qualify as medical care.” Full Article – Foley & Lardner LLP
Departments Issue Guidance on Preventive Services Under the ACA Following the Braidwood Decision “Preventive care requirements receiving an A or B rating from the USPSTF before March 23, 2010, are not affected by the ruling, which means plans and issuers must still cover those preventive care services without cost-sharing. FAQs Part 59 clarifies the Braidwood decision’s effect on the high deductible health plan (HDHP) preventive care deductible safe harbor.” Full Article – Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
STATE & INTERNATIONAL COMPLIANCE
In addition to the RISQ Review, RISQ Consulting also provides a resource that features changes and updates to State and International Compliance measures. We’ve included brief summaries of each item below, and also provided links to the original articles if you’d like to read further.
Columbus, Ohio Prohibits Asking Applicants Their Salary History “Recently, the City of Columbus joined a growing number of states and municipalities that have passed laws prohibiting employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s salary history. In Ohio, Toledo and Cincinnati currently have such ordinances.” Full Article – Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLPOHIO
Pennsylvania Court Holds Employer Must Reimburse Out-of-Pocket Costs for Medical Marijuana “A Pennsylvania Court held that an employer violated the state Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA) by refusing to reimburse an employee for out-of- pocket medical marijuana expenses related to a workplace injury.” Full Article – Jackson Lewis P.C.PENNSYLVANIA
New York State Releases Updated Model Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy and Training “The New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) has released its long- awaited updated model sexual harassment prevention policy that addresses issues such as gender identity, remote work, and bystander intervention.” Full Article – Proskauer Rose LLPNEW YORK
Colorado’s Pay Transparency Laws “Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (“EPEWA”) requires employers to include compensation and benefits information in all job postings and notifications of promotional opportunities. The EPEWA covers all employers, public or private, that employ at least one person in Colorado. Employees of covered employers must also comply with the pay transparency requirements of the EPEWA.” Full Article – Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLPCOLORADO
California Seeks to Ban Most Criminal Background Checks “California legislators met on April 11, 2023 to discuss a proposed overhaul of employment-related criminal background checks. Simply put, if the Fair Chance Act of 2023 (SB 809) is passed into law, California will have the most restrictive criminal background check law in the country, and will significantly limit the way California employers can vet applicants for employment.” Full Article – Baker & McKenzie LLPCALIFORNIA
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