SW Benefits Update – 2022 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health and Welfare

We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues. Parts 2, 3, and 4 will cover executive compensation issues, qualified plan issues, and cost-of-living increases, but not necessarily in that order. We are publishing Part 1 to coincide with fall open enrollment. We expect to publish the other Parts later this year. Each Employee Benefits Update provides a checklist of items to consider before the end of 2022 or in early 2023. We hope these “To Do” Lists help focus your efforts over the next few months heading into 2023.

Although we identify many action items below, we expect employers will focus their 2023 compliance efforts in three areas: (1) how the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision impacts their health plans’ coverage of abortion services; (2) how the end of the COVID-19 emergency declarations, when announced, will impact their health plans’ coverage of COVID-19 and related services; and (3) how to comply with the requirements under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”), including, but not limited to, the prohibitions against surprise billing under the No Surprises Act, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) comparative analysis, broker and consultant compensation disclosures under Section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), and the medical and drug cost reports that are initially due December 27, 2022, and every June 1 thereafter.

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