COVID-19 Impact for Health & Welfare Plans (Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series)
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. This sweeping tax and spending package affects large swaths of the US economy. Though reduced significantly from the original House...more
President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025. The OBBB is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that introduces significant reforms across multiple areas of federal policy, including...more
The world of health benefits is constantly evolving. Recent policy shifts and legislative developments are expected to impact the economic landscape and have significant implications for employer plan sponsors, insurers,...more
On July 4, 2025, the president signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) into law. Among many other healthcare provisions, the bill permanently extends the telehealth safe harbor for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs)...more
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “Act”) into law. The Act makes permanent the COVID-era safe harbor that allowed high deductible health plans (“HDHPs”) to provide first-dollar...more
On July 4, 2025, Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law. Although most have focused on the sweeping tax reform included in the OBBB, a number of key employee benefits provisions are included in the...more
President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) on July 4, 2025. The telehealth safe harbor, which allowed first dollar coverage of telehealth services without impacting Health Savings Account (HSA)...more
After Congress declined to extend certain relief allowing first-dollar coverage of telehealth services by high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), health plan sponsors may need to make immediate changes to preserve employees’...more
During the COVID-19 crisis, newly-created relief allowed first dollar coverage for telehealth services under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) without ruining health savings account (HSA) eligibility. That relief was...more
On December 21, 2024, President Biden signed into law the American Relief Act, 2025 (2025 Relief Act), which funds the federal government through March 14, 2025, and provides certain disaster relief provisions and other...more
Employers providing health plan coverage through a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) may need to amend their HDHP before year-end to remove first-dollar telehealth coverage. Although prior regulatory relief permitted...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2023 (Public Law 117-328), signed into law on December 29, 2022, extended certain key virtual care flexibilities instituted during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) through...more
A recent string of lawsuits, regulatory guidance, and market trends have dramatically impacted the types of services that enjoy first dollar coverage under high deductible health plan (HDHP) and health savings account (HSA)...more
The Biden Administration announced on Jan. 30, 2023, its intent to end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Fortunately, the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) extends certain key telehealth...more
The Biden administration has announced its intent to end the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023 (read our prior article for more information). In response to the...more
If you sponsor a high deductible health plan (“HDHP”) and have been tracking telehealth relief, your head may be spinning and rightfully so! There have been various laws and guidance impacting HDHPs and telehealth since 2020...more
Recently Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (“2023 CAA”). Among other things, the 2023 CAA extends, for a second time, the telehealth relief provided under the CARES Act. The CARES Act permitted high...more
Besides ensuring the federal government remains fully funded, President Biden’s signature Thursday on the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 23) contains several provisions that will directly impact health and...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (2023 CAA) further extends the HSA safe harbor allowing high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to offer first dollar coverage of telehealth services without ruining HDHP members’...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 2023) holds some welcome news for employers that offer a high deductible health plan (HDHP) option paired with a health savings account (HSA). Thanks to the CAA 2023, these...more
On December 23, 2022, US Congress approved a year-end omnibus legislative package, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA 2023), which consists of all 12 fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills and numerous other...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, signed into law on March 15, 2022, extended relief first made available at the start of the pandemic which allowed first dollar coverage for telehealth services under a high...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (“2022 CAA”), which was recently signed into law, reinstates the exception that allows high deductible health plans (“HDHPs”) to waive all or a portion of participant cost-sharing...more
On March 15, 2022, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (H.R. 2471) into law (“CAA 2022”). The CAA 2022 is largely a spending bill but also includes, among other things, a much-anticipated new...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, which was signed March 15, again permits first-dollar coverage for telehealth services without jeopardizing health savings account (HSA) eligibility, effective April 1, 2022,...more