Employee Benefits Briefing – June 2006

• U.S. Supreme Court Supports Subrogation— with Limits

• Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor Update Correction Programs

• New Procedures for IRS Determination Letters

• Medicare Part D Updated Guidance and Notices .

To no one’s surprise, the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice Roberts provided no insight into his views on ERISA. But now he has authored the Supreme Court’s unanimous ERISA decision in Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc. (May 15, 2006).

At issue was the right of an ERISA medical plan to seek reimbursement for the plan’s payment of medical expenses in cases where the participant has in turn recovered from third parties for those same expenses.