28 Jun Tri-Agency Final Rules on Health Reimbursement Arrangements

Tri-Agency Final Rules on Health Reimbursement Arrangements

Recently, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released their final rules on health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and other account-based group health plans. Read this compliance updated to learn more.

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (collectively, the Departments) released their final rules regarding health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and other account-based group health plans. The DOL also issued anews release, frequently asked questions, model notice, and model attestations.

The final rules’ goal is to expand the flexibility and use of HRAs to provide individuals with additional options to obtain quality, affordable healthcare. According to the Departments, these changes will facilitate a more efficient healthcare system by increasing employees’ consumer choice and promoting healthcare market competition by adding employer options.

To do so, the final rules expand the use of HRAs by:

• Removing the prohibition against integrating an HRA with individual health insurance coverage (individual coverage HRA)
• Expanding the definition of limited excepted benefits to recognize certain HRAs as limited excepted benefits if certain conditions are met (excepted benefit HRA)
• Providing premium tax credit (PTC) eligibility rules for people who are offered an HRA integrated with individual coverage
• Assuring HRA and Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) plan sponsors that reimbursement of individual coverage by the HRA or QSEHRA does not become part of an ERISA plan when certain conditions are met
• Changing individual market special enrollment periods for individuals who gain access to HRAs integrated with individual coverage or who are provided QSEHRAs

The final rules will be published in the Federal Register on June 20, 2019, be effective on August 19, 2019, and generally apply for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2020.

However, the final rules under Section 36B (regarding PTCs) apply for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and the final rules providing a new special enrollment period in the individual market apply January 1, 2020.

An HRA is a type of account-based group health plan funded solely by employer contributions that reimburses an employee for Section 213(d) medical care expenses incurred by the employee, or the employee’s spouse, dependents, and children who are not age 27 as of the end of the taxable year, up to a maximum fixed-dollar amount during a coverage period.

These reimbursements are excludable from the employee’s income and wages for federal income tax and employment tax purposes. An HRA can allow amounts that remain at the end of the year to be available to reimburse medical care expenses incurred in later years.

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