Employers
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) requires employers with 20 or more employees to offer continuation coverage under a group health plan for periods of 18, 29 or 36 months depending on the qualifying event. Qualifying events generally include a loss of coverage due to 1) termination of employment, 2) a reduction in hours, 3) an employee’s entitlement to Medicare, 4) death of the employee, 5) divorce or legal separation from the employee, and 6) a dependent child reaching the maximum age limit to be covered under the plan.
The COVID-19 national public health emergency is set to expire on January 11, 2023; however, the Biden administration is expected to issue another extension of the national public health emergency. It is unknown at this time when the national public health emergency will be declared over.
Annual Medicare Part D reporting is required for all employers who provide health benefits with prescription drug coverage. The reporting is an online filing to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and it lets CMS know if the prescription drug coverage available on the employer’s health plan is “creditable.”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a research institute known as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The goal of PCORI is to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed decisions about healthcare choices. PCORI is funded in part by fees which are charged to health plans.
Last year, the State of Illinois passed a law called the Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (CCDA). The CCDA requires a written disclosure to be provided by every employer who has employees in the State of Illinois and who also provides group health insurance coverage to those employees.
On September 27, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the 2023 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs, and the 2023 Medicare Part D income-related monthly adjustment amounts. Below is a summary of those numbers:
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