by Lexi Garcia | Nov 21, 2023 | Blog
A DOL, HHS, and IRS request for information (RFI) is seeking input about how the preventive health services mandate applies to over-the-counter (OTC) preventive items and services, including the potential benefits and costs of requiring plans and insurers to cover these items at no cost without a provider’s prescription. Agency guidance has previously advised that OTC items and services generally must be covered without cost-sharing only when prescribed by a provider.
The RFI seeks information on current access to and utilization of OTC preventive products, as well as operational challenges for plans, insurers, third-party administrators, and pharmacy benefit managers. For instance, the request asks about operational challenges that may be associated with using telepharmacies and mail orders within and across states or localities. The agencies are also interested in “lessons learned” from providing coverage for OTC COVID-19 diagnostic tests during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The RFI explains that the agencies are particularly focused on OTC preventive care items that can be purchased without a prescription now or in the future, such as contraceptives, tobacco-cessation products, folic acid during pregnancy, and breastfeeding supplies.
Click here for the full request.
Source: Thomson Reuters
by Lexi Garcia | Jun 30, 2023 | Blog
In response to the end of the COVID-19 emergency, the IRS has issued a notice modifying its 2020 guidance regarding the COVID-19 testing and treatment benefits that can be provided by a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). Under the 2020 guidance, HDHPs can provide those benefits without a deductible or with a deductible below the applicable HDHP minimum deductible (self-only or family), thereby allowing individuals to receive coverage under HDHPs that provide such benefits on a no- or low-deductible basis without any adverse effect on HSA eligibility. Agency FAQs issued earlier this year indicated that the 2020 guidance would apply until further guidance was issued. This latest notice provides that, due to the end of the COVID-19 emergency, the relief described in the 2020 guidance is no longer needed and will apply only for plan years ending on or before December 31, 2024.
The notice also addresses the status of certain items and services as preventive care under the Code’s HSA eligibility rules. According to the notice, the preventive care safe harbor under those rules does not include COVID-19 screening (i.e., testing), effective as of the notice’s publication date. The notice acknowledges that the preventive care safe harbor includes screening services for certain infectious diseases but also observes that screenings for “common and episodic illnesses, such as the flu” are not included and concludes that COVID-19 differs from the types of diseases on the list. The notice further provides that—consistent with recent agency FAQs regarding the impact of the trial court’s decision in the Braidwood case—items and services recommended with an “A” or “B” rating by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on or after March 23, 2010, are treated as preventive care under the HSA eligibility rules, whether or not they must be covered without cost sharing under the preventive services mandate. Thus, if the USPSTF were to recommend COVID-19 testing with an “A” or “B” rating, then that testing would be treated as preventive care under the HSA eligibility rules, regardless of whether coverage without cost-sharing is required under the preventive services mandate.
Source: Thomson Reuters
by Lexi Garcia | Apr 27, 2023 | Blog
QUESTION: Due to the COVID-19 emergency, we have been required to extend deadlines for participants and beneficiaries to submit claims and appeals under our employee benefit plans. How does the end of the COVID-19 national emergency affect these extensions?
ANSWER: As you note, various plan-related deadlines have been extended—but for no longer than one year—by disregarding (tolling) the COVID-19 “outbreak period,” which ends 60 days after the end of the national emergency unless another end date is announced by the agencies. The COVID-19 national emergency ended on April 10, 2023. Although 60 days later would be June 9, 2023, the DOL has informally commented that, consistent with FAQs issued in March 2023, the outbreak period will end on July 10, 2023.
The outbreak period relief extends the deadlines for individuals to file claims for benefits and appeals of adverse benefit determinations under employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA or the Code—including group health plans, disability and other employee welfare benefit plans, and retirement plans. For group health plans, the extension also applies to deadlines for requesting external review following exhaustion of the plan’s internal appeals procedures and for perfecting an incomplete request for review. The disregarded period lasts until the earlier of (1) one year from the date the individual was first eligible for outbreak period relief, or (2) the end of the outbreak period. Once the disregarded period has ended, the regular timeframes resume. Thus, the extended deadline must be determined on an individual basis. For example:
Alex, a participant in a group health plan that normally requires claims to be submitted within one year after the date of service, received medical care on July 1, 2022. The disregarded period begins on the service date (July 1, 2022) and ends on the earlier of one year later (July 1, 2023) or the end of the outbreak period (July 10, 2023). Thus, the plan’s regular one-year timeline begins to run on July 1, 2023, so the deadline for Alex to submit a claim is July 1, 2024. For medical care received on August 1, 2022, the disregarded period would end on July 10, 2023 (the earlier of the end of the outbreak period or one year after the service date), and then the plan’s regular one-year timeline would begin to run, so the deadline for submitting a claim would be July 10, 2024.
Note that a different interpretation of the extension—applying the plan’s timeline first and the outbreak period relief after the end of the regular timeline—would produce a different result in some circumstances. Applying this interpretation to the first example above, the claim submission deadline would be July 10, 2023 (the earlier of July 10, 2023, or one year after the July 1, 2023, regular claim submission deadline). Given that the agencies, in the FAQs, encouraged plans to allow participants and beneficiaries more time to act, it seems advisable to take the approach that results in the later deadline. In any event, clear communication and consistency in application will be important.
Although plans were not expressly granted more time to process and decide claims, the DOL recognized that the COVID-19 emergency may present challenges in achieving “full and timely compliance” with ERISA’s claims procedure requirements and said that its approach to enforcement would emphasize compliance assistance. But at this late stage of the pandemic, it seems unlikely that the DOL would grant plans much leeway in this regard.
Source: Thomson Reuters
by Lexi Garcia | Mar 2, 2023 | Blog
HHS’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a fact sheet addressing the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which (along with the COVID-19 national emergency) is anticipated to end on May 11, 2023. The fact sheet, which is addressed to individuals, confirms that HHS is expecting the PHE to expire at the end of the day on May 11 and provides information about the implications for coverage under private health insurance, as well as Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. Here are highlights relevant to employer-sponsored group health plans:
- COVID-19 Vaccines, Testing, and Treatments. Most plans must continue to cover vaccines furnished by in-network providers without cost sharing but may require individuals receiving vaccines from out-of-network providers to share part of the cost. When the PHE ends, mandatory coverage for OTC and laboratory-based COVID-19 PCR and antigen tests will end. Plans may choose to cover these tests but may require cost sharing, prior authorization, or other forms of medical management. The end of the PHE will not change how COVID-19 treatments are covered; plans that require cost sharing or apply deductibles may continue to do so.
- Access to Telehealth Services. As is currently the case during the PHE, coverage for telehealth and other remote care services may vary from plan to plan after the PHE ends. When covered, plans may impose cost-sharing, prior authorization, or other forms of medical management.
Source: Thomson Reuters
by Lexi Garcia | Feb 10, 2023 | Blog
The Biden Administration announced on Jan. 30 its intent to end the public health emergency and national emergency on May 11, 2023. Former President Donald Trump issued the emergency declaration in March 2020 in response to the nation’s COVID-19 crisis. President Joe Biden extended the emergency again on Feb. 18, 2022.
The House of Representatives proposed ending the emergency immediately rather than wait until May 11. The administration responded saying that an abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create chaos within the nation’s health care system.
The 60 days after the end of the national emergency will be significant as benefit related changes will take affect July 10, 2023. For plan sponsors, many benefit-related deadlines were extended as part of the national emergency, such as COBRA election and payment periods. With deadlines extensions ending, plan sponsors should work with COBRA and other third party-administrators in preparation for the rule changes affecting:
- election periods for COBRA continuation coverage
- COBRA premium payments
- HIPPA special enrollments
- claims, adverse decision appeals and external reviews
