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
Catastrophe Experts Discuss Maui’s Long Road to Recovery “While wildfire search and rescue efforts continued in Maui, a group of CoreLogic experts gathered online last week to discuss the island’s road to recovery through an insurance lens. Panelists analyzed the disaster’s uncertain billion-dollar price tag as well as potential restoration and reconstruction barriers. “The road to recovery from an event like this will be long and arduous,” said Jon Schneyer, catastrophe response director at CoreLogic. “And the purpose of this briefing is to provide context and understanding of the degree of damage and the recovery costs to help the people of Lahaina to the best of our abilities.” Roughly 6,500 acres of land burned across the island, and the fires were largely contained as of press time. More than 100 fatalities have been confirmed by local officials, with hundreds more still unaccounted for.” Full Article – Insurance Journal
Reinsurers’ Cyber Rates Expected to Rise as They Seek to Regain Profitability: S&P “More cyber reinsurance rate increases can be expected as reinsurers seek to regain underwriting profits in their cyber portfolios, according to a report published by S&P Global Ratings. “Reinsurers had a difficult 2022 due to low profitability and even underwriting losses in their cyber portfolios,” said the report titled “Global Cyber Insurance: Reinsurance Remains Key to Growth.” The gross combined ratio was 107% and the net combined ratio was 101% in 2022 for global reinsurance groups for the cyber business they reinsured, the report added, noting that cyber reinsurers’ gross and net combined (loss and expense) ratios underperformed primary insurers on average. However, S&P said it’s important that primary cyber insurers can absorb reinsurance rate increases without passing them on to policyholders.” Full Article – Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
Executive Summary: Tracking Telehealth Changes State-by-State in Response to COVID-19 “A descriptive list of current and proposed state and federal guidance, regulations, and legislation concerning telehealth programs. Updated August 25, 2023.” Full Article – Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
In its 45th Right of Access Initiative Settlement, OCR Reminds Health Plans of HIPAA Compliance Obligations “Previously focused on healthcare providers, the settlement with UnitedHealthcare emphasizes the need for health plans to provide members with timely access to their health information. In the press release describing the settlement, OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer emphasized that health plans are not exempt from the access requirement.” Full Article – Nixon Peabody International LLC
ERISA Preemption Reaffirmed: Tenth Circuit Limits State PBM Regulation “Pending the outcome of the district court proceedings, Oklahoma is likely to request that the Tenth Circuit rehear the case, and/or pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court. The Mulready decision is a conservative, well-reasoned application of prior precedent. Had the Tenth Circuit reached an opposite conclusion, it would have been a sea change in the world of both ERISA preemption and state regulation of ERISA plans.” Full Article – Groom Law Group
DOL Continues Enforcement of Non-Quantitative Treatment Limitation Requirements “The most recent Report to Congress, which is over 100 pages, is instructive and provides several important lessons: [1] MH/SUD parity remains an enforcement priority; [2] Non- compliant plans reported to Congress; [3] Opportunity to think carefully and deeply; [4] Comparative analysis requirement is no longer new; [5] Top areas of DOL focus; and [6] More exclusions than expected, but also some successes.” Full Article – Verrill Dana LLP
New Regulation for Pharmacy Benefit Managers “Eight separate bills to change PBM practices have recently been introduced or advanced out of committee. The current proposals will introduce some transparency on PBM and pharmaceutical pricing. Rebate retention and spread pricing bans will decrease profit margin for some PBMs, but that is very unlikely to be significant. . . Ultimately the best approach to reducing costs for medications is for the government to set prices, just as most other higher- income countries do.” Full Article – Health Affairs Forefront
IRS Rev. Proc. 2023-29: 2024 Adjusted Contribution Percentage for Determining Affordable Employer-Provided Coverage “This revenue procedure provides the applicable percentage table in Section 36B(b)(3)(A) for taxable years beginning in calendar year 2024. This table is used to calculate an individual’s premium tax credit under Section 36B. This revenue procedure also provides the indexing adjustment for the required contribution percentage for determining the affordability of an employer’s offer of coverage. For plan years beginning in calendar year 2024, the required contribution percentage is 8.39%.” Full Article – Internal Revenue Service
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.
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Issues New Proposed Regulations on Temporary Workers Bill of Rights for Comment
“On 21 July 2023, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development posted proposed regulations to implement the New Jersey Temporary Workers Bill of Rights on its website. Public comments on the proposal will be accepted until 20 October 2023.” Full Article
– Ford Harrison
PENNSYLVANIA
Confidentiality Agreements May be Enforced Against Employees Based on Continued Employment Even if There is No New Additional Consideration
“An employment agreement was executed five months after the employee was hired… Later, the employee was hired by a competitor and forwarded himself emails containing his employer’s confidential trade secret information before he left the employer. The employer sued, alleging that the employee had breached the confidentiality provision of his employment contract.” Full Article
– Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
ILLINOIS
Illinois Employers: Two Bills We Told You to Watch Are Now Law
“On August 4, Governor Pritzker signed HB 2862 into law, effective immediately, imposing new obligations on employers who use temporary employees, including providing information on their regular employees’ compensation to staffing companies and documenting and keeping records of training provided to the staffing company employee.” Full Article
– Baker & McKenzie LLP
NEW YORK
Remote Employees Nationwide May Trigger Special Rights in Group Terminations Under NY Law
“With just a handful of words, the NYS Department of Labor has turned upside down the purpose of the state’s WARN Act and imposed a plethora of new obligations on employers that make little practical sense.” Full Article
– Levy Employment Law, LLC
CALIFORNIA
California Modifies Employment Regulations Regarding Criminal History
“The Fair Chance Act (FCA) prohibits California employers with five or more employees from inquiring into, considering, distributing, or disseminating information related to an applicant’s criminal history until after the employer has made a conditional offer of employment.” Full Article
– Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
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