Congress has handed, and the President has signed, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA, 2023), containing provisions that impression each retirement and group well being plan sponsors and advisors. Listed here are highlights of the provisions affecting group well being plans:

• Telehealth/HDHPs. Tax-advantaged contributions usually can’t be made to an HSA except the account holder is roofed by an HDHP and doesn’t have disqualifying non-HDHP protection. Congress created exceptions to these guidelines to facilitate the usage of telehealth in the course of the COVID pandemic, however the exceptions utilized solely to plan years starting on or earlier than December 31, 2021 (see our Checkpoint article), and for the final 9 months of 2022 with out regard to plan 12 months (see our Checkpoint article). The laws extends the exceptions by offering that telehealth and different distant care providers can be thought-about disregarded protection—and thus is not going to trigger a lack of HSA eligibility—throughout plan years starting after December 31, 2022, and earlier than January 1, 2025. As well as, HDHPs might present protection for telehealth and different distant care providers throughout these plan years earlier than the minimal deductible is happy with out dropping their HDHP standing. [EBIA Comment: It seems that non-calendar-year HDHPs will have a gap between the end of 2022 and the beginning of the 2023 plan year during which the relief does not apply. However, individuals covered under these plans may be able to use the full contribution rule (sometimes referred to as the “last-month rule” or the “no-proration rule”), which allows a full year’s worth of HSA contributions to be made by someone who is HSA-eligible for only a portion of the year.]
• Psychological Well being Parity. The laws gives funding to help states of their enforcement of the CAA, 2021 requirement that well being plans and insurers put together comparative analyses of any nonquantitative therapy limitations on psychological well being or substance use dysfunction protection (see our Checkpoint article). The laws additionally eliminates the appropriate of self-insured non-federal authorities well being plans to choose out of Psychological Well being Parity and Dependancy Fairness Act (MHPAEA) compliance (see our Checkpoint article). Efficient instantly, no such new elections could also be made, and elections expiring 180 days or extra after December 29, 2022, is probably not renewed. [EBIA Comment: Provisions that would have imposed civil monetary penalties for violations of the MHPAEA did not make it into the final bill but may resurface in future legislation.]

EBIA Remark: A lot consideration has been centered on the laws’s retirement plan provisions (see our Checkpoint article), however group well being plan sponsors and advisors ought to be aware of these relevant provisions and be looking out for additional developments in 2023. For extra data, see EBIA’s Shopper-Pushed Well being Care guide at Sections X.I (“Telehealth and Different Distant Care Companies”), XI.G.8 (“Sure Telehealth and Different Distant Care Companies Will Not Forestall HSA Eligibility”), and XII.B.2 (“Full-Contribution Rule for Midyear HDHP Enrollees”), and EBIA’s Group Well being Plan Mandates guide at Sections IV.F.1.a (“Decide-Out Election for Self-Insured State and Native Authorities Plans”), IX.A (“What Is Psychological Well being Parity and Who Should Comply?”), and IX.H.1 (“NQTL Comparative Evaluation”).

Contributing Editors: EBIA Workers.