The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”) makes certain changes to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA) signed in to law on December 8, 2003. Specifically, beginning in 2011, the annual enrollment period for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans has been changed to October 15 through December 7. As a result, Notices of Creditable and Non-Creditable Coverage relating to employee benefit plans’ prescription drug coverage for Medicare eligible participants must now be distributed to participants by October 15.
Jules L. Smith, a Partner in the Litigation Department of Blitman & King, was elected Secretary of the Board of Directors, and a member of the Governance Committee, of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was founded by George Eastman in 1922, and since then has been committed to enriching and inspiring the community through the art of music.
Kelly Cook, a Benefit Paralegal and Manager of the Employee Benefits Department at Blitman & King, will be profiled in an upcoming text, The Law of Corporations and Other Business Organizations 6th Edition. The profile will include a broad range of questions about Kelly and her 27 years of employee benefits experience.
Bernard T. King authored and presented a paper the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the 9th Annual Iron Workers International Attorneys’ Conference including a history and introduction to health care reform, a timeline of the implementation of various requirements and an update on legal/legislative challenges currently underway.
Jules L. Smith and Bryan T. Arnault authored, and will present, a paper on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), including interpreting regulations and case law. GINA is intended to provide individuals with legal protection against discrimination based on genetic information in health insurance and employment.
It is easy to become bogged down in the minutia of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA” or “Act”). “Health Care Reform—Historical Overview” drafted by Bernard T. King, Esq. and Daniel R. Brice, Esq., and recently presented by Mr. King in Washington D.C., provides a big picture look at Health Care Reform.
On February 11, 2011, the Department of Labor announced that it will extend until January 1, 2012 the effective date for compliance with final regulations concerning disclosure of plan fees and costs to participants in defined contribution participant-directed account plans.
On January 19, 2011, Daniel R. Brice and Jonathan M. Cerrito presented to CNY Sales & Marketing Executives (CNYSME)—a trade association founded in 1935 and a recognized voice of the sales and marketing profession in Central New York—on various employment law and employee benefits matters.
Ginger LaChapelle, an Associate in the Employee Benefits Department, recently presented Reviewing the DOL's Final Rule for Fee Disclosure in Participant Directed Individual Account Plans to the Albany Chapter of the New York Employee Benefits Committee.
On December 13, 2010, Governor Patterson signed the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“Act”) into law, which provides enhanced remedies and greater enforcement powers to prevent violations of New York wage laws.