Regulatory Transactions

From: Insurance Journal

By Brian Wingfield

Over the next 12 months, the Obama administration is due to issue regulations governing everything from e-cigarettes to smoke-stack emissions in what experts predict will be a second-term rush to put rules in place before leaving office.

“In every administration, these things have to be wrapped up in at least the second to last year,” Cindy Skrzycki, author of “The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics,” said in an interview. Skrzycki said 2014 will be an important year for agencies to get new rules under way.

From: WorkplaceChoice.org/Competitive Enterprise Institute

From: Health Affairs Blog

Implementing Health Reform: The 2015 Notice Of Benefit And Payment Parameters Proposed Rule; ACA Supreme Court Litigation

by Timothy Jost

Note: In another Affordable Care Act development, the Supreme Court on November 26, 2013, agreed to review Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius. Both cases raise the issue of whether a regulation that requires health plans to cover certain contraceptives violates the free exercise rights of a for-profit corporate employer. This issue has been raised in lawsuits across the country, with the Courts of Appeals reaching conflicting conclusions. Since four Circuit Courts of Appeals have enjoined the enforcement of the regulation, while two have upheld it, a Supreme Court review was inevitable.