6/11/2023 0 Comments Nextime meaningMorgan Lewis previously analyzed the EEOC guidance, along with the CDC’s updated testing guidance. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had taken the position that testing is always job related and consistent with business necessity when it adheres to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and/or public health authorities. In evaluating any existing employer COVID-19 testing program, employers may wish to consider whether testing is job related and consistent with business necessity under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). With the end of the emergency declarations, many employers are reevaluating COVID-19 testing programs. COST AND ADMINISTRATION OF COVID-19 TESTING PROGRAMS Employers may see an increase in requests to join employer health benefit plans and additional employee inquiries regarding coverage that their benefit teams should be prepared to address. Moreover, healthcare plans will no longer be required to cover COVID-19 testing and vaccines without cost sharing (i.e., co-pays and deductibles), prior authorization, or other medical management requirements. If the public health emergency ends as expected in May, many workers who had qualified for Medicaid may no longer qualify, depending on where they live. Given this uncertainty, and for administrative ease, plan sponsors may decide to extend the suspended timeframes through the end of the calendar year. However, the US Department of Labor has provided verbal, informal guidance to stakeholders indicating their intention to end the Outbreak Period on July 10, 2023, consistent with earlier guidance. Any suspended time frames for electing and paying for COBRA coverage are currently set to end 60 days after the end of the national emergency (Outbreak Period). The end of the presidential declaration of national emergency will likely have the greatest impact on COBRA qualified beneficiaries. Employers should be prepared to respond to inquiries from employees regarding changes in coverage and related deadlines. Morgan Lewis recently summarized these changes and the next steps for plan sponsors. The biggest impact of the end of the emergency declarations will be the changes to COVID-19 medical benefits. As such, employers may wish to take stock of their COVID-19 policies and reevaluate those that touch on benefits, vaccine and testing requirements, and other safety measures. However, based on comments from the Biden administration, that too is set to expire on May 11. The COVID-19 federal public health emergency-a separate declaration by the Secretary of Health and Human Services from January 2020-remains in effect for now. President Biden signed into law a House bill on April 10 that immediately ended the COVID-19 presidential declaration of national emergency established in March 2020.
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