Monica B. Lasky

Monica Lasky joined Laner Muchin’s Employee Benefits Practice Group in 2000.  Monica concentrates her practice on welfare benefits issues, assisting clients to provide comprehensive, legally compliant benefits as cost-effectively as possible.  She has extensive experience working with welfare plans of all sizes and types, including multiemployer and single employer, insured and self-insured, wrap and single benefit plans, wellness benefits, employee assistance programs, and a variety of consumer-driven accounts (i.e., flexible spending accounts, Health Savings Accounts, and Health Reimbursement Arrangements).

Monica advises clients regarding all areas of plan design, technical compliance, administration, and fiduciary issues, and frequently negotiates service provider contracts. Her areas of expertise include the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, HIPAA privacy, portability, nondiscrimination, Medicare Part D and Medicare Secondary Payer Rules, claims and appeals procedures, retiree medical benefits, domestic partner benefits, and all related tax issues. She is a co-editor of the Firm’s newsletter and a speaker on various health and welfare benefit issues impacting employers and industry groups.  Monica lives in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood with her husband, two daughters, and their dog.

HONORS, MEMBERSHIPS AND PUBLICATIONS

• Member, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
• Author, Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans Forms, Clark Boardman Callaghan (1998)

Below are representative examples of the types of matters Monica handles on behalf of Laner Muchin clients:

Conducts requests for proposals and negotiates contracts (and continues to monitor compliance thereunder) with employee benefits service providers, including network administrators, third-party claims administrators, prescription benefits managers, and utilization review providers on behalf of a variety of clients, including a public sector client with over 30,000 employees and a number of multiemployer fund clients.

Assisted large municipal client in responding to a CMS audit regarding compliance with the Affordable Care Act, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, and the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act.

Drafts and reviews Plan documents, summary plan documents, and trust documents for a number of clients, including multiemployer funds, large governmental entities, non-profits, and an intergovernmental risk pool that insures dozens of governmental entities.

Provides ongoing counseling to public sector and private sector clients regarding compliance with the employer shared responsibility “Pay or Play” requirements under the Affordable Care Act, including determinations of “applicable large employer status,” determination of “full-time” employment status, and assistance preparing annual pay-or-play reports.

Provides training to benefits managers and their staff on a range of employee benefits-related topics including HIPAA privacy and security, the Affordable Care Act and COBRA.