Employer-sponsored health coverage will satisfy the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to be affordable in 2020 if the lowest-cost, self-only coverage option available to employees does not exceed 9.78 percent of an employee’s household income, down from 9.86 percent in 2019, the IRS said. Employees’ monthly contributions to their lowest-cost plan will be capped at $101.79 in 2020, slightly up from $99.75 in 2019, for employers that use the federal poverty level safe harbor.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., struck down a lawsuit challenging a 2018 Trump administration rule that expanded the scope of short-term, limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans sold on the individual health insurance market. STLDI plans, which need not comply with all of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements, can be a lower-cost alternative to COBRA for some employees. Premiums for STLDI plans can be paid by employers through excepted-benefit health reimbursement arrangements.

On July 9, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments in Texas v. United States, a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the appellate court upholds a lower court ruling against the ACA, the case is expected to land before the U.S. Supreme Court next year.

When the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) raised health plans’ out-of-pocket maximums for next year, it also increased the penalties on employers whose group plans don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage and affordability requirements.