Labor & Employment News Alert

Agencies Issue FAQs for Group Health Plans Regarding the End of the COVID-19 Emergency Periods

March 30, 2023

By: Jill E. Hall

On February 2, 2023, we shared that the Biden Administration announced it plans to end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and the related National Emergency on May 11, 2023. (https://www.jacksonkelly.com/labor-employment-personnel-blog/preparing-group-health-plans-for-the-end-of-covid-19-emergency-periods.) Yesterday, the Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury issued Frequently Asked Questions designed to clarify how the COVID-19 coverage and payment requirements under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) will change when the Public Health Emergency ends.

As discussed in more detail in the FAQs, plans and issuers are not required to provide coverage for items and services related to diagnostic testing for COVID-19 that are furnished after the end of the Public Health Emergency, and if they provide such coverage, they may impose cost-sharing requirements, prior authorization, or other medical management requirements for such items and services.

The FAQs also address the extension of certain health-plan related deadlines for plans and participants affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and clarify how the requirements related to disregarded periods for such deadlines will change after the COVID-19 National Emergency ends.

A link to the FAQs can be found here:

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-58.