The White House announced that President Biden will extend the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies one final time. With that announcement, the President stated the intention that this will be the last extension. The termination date is expected to be May 11, 2023. ?
The White House indicated that the final extension is intended to ensure an orderly wind-down of key processes that states, healthcare providers, and patients have relied on throughout the pandemic.
Public Health Emergency Requirements
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency designation was made by the Department of Health and Human Services on April 21, 2020. COVID-19 legislation contingent on the public health emergency requires that group health plans must:
- Provide coverage for COVID-19 testing and diagnosis at no cost to plan participants
- Provide coverage for COVID-19?vaccines at no cost (for both in-network and out-of-network providers)
After the public health emergency ends, plans will be able to make decisions about whether to continue, change, or terminate the free testing and diagnosis benefits that were mandated during the COVID emergency period. Notably, both coverage for 8 home testing kits under health plans and the government's free COVID test program will be terminated when the public health emergency ends. This means that employees will no longer have ready access to free COVID test kits.
COVID-19 vaccinations will continue to be free for participants of group health plans even after the public health emergency ends. Under the ACA, vaccines are considered preventive care, which must be covered at no cost.
National Emergency Requirements
The COVID-19 National Emergency is a separate designation that was made by Executive Order. Recall that this impacts a number of employee benefit tolling periods for plan participants, COBRA-qualified beneficiaries, and employers. Specifically, the following deadlines are extended for one year from the date the individual was first entitled to the extension relief or 60 days after the end of the National Emergency.
- COBRA Elections. The 60-day deadline for electing COBRA coverage.
- COBRA Premium Payments. The 45-day (initial) and 30-day (subsequent monthly) COBRA premium payment deadlines.
- COBRA Notifications (by Employee to Employer). The 60-day deadline by which individuals must notify the plan of certain COBRA-qualifying events (such as a divorce or a child losing eligibility as a dependent under the plan) or a Social Security Administration determination of disability.
