Last week, President Biden signed a House bill that immediately ended the COVID-19 National Emergency. While the bill came a month earlier than initially planned, the original end date for deadlines and relief will hold, but employers should act now to ensure their healthcare plans stay up to speed.
The National Emergency period, or NE, mainly impacted the deadlines of COBRA enrollment and payment, HIPAA special enrollment and group health plan claims and appeals. This differs from those under the Public Health Emergency, or PHE, which is still scheduled to expire in May; the PHE requires health plans to cover COVID-19 vaccines, testing and other related services.
