Last week, the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor released final interim regulations outlining expanded exemptions for group health plans regarding contraceptive coverage. Employers with religious or moral objections to contraceptive coverage may be exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that group health plans provide contraceptive coverage. These new regulations are effective immediately.
Simultaneously, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance pertaining to abortion coverage. This guidance applies only to individual insurance policies offered in the Exchanges.
The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered group health plans, except houses of worship and closely held companies with sincerely held religious objections, to cover contraceptives without cost-sharing requirements. Plans and issuers must cover, without cost-sharing, the full range of FDA-identified methods. Thus, plans and issuers must cover, without cost-sharing, at least one form of contraception in each of the 18 distinct contraceptive methods identified by the FDA.
For the hormonal contraceptive methods, coverage therefore must include (but is not limited to) all three oral contraceptive methods (combined, progestin-only, and extended / continuous use), injectables, implants, the vaginal contraceptive ring, the contraceptive patch, emergency contraception (Plan B / Plan B One Step / Next Choice), emergency contraception (Ella), and IUDs with progestin. Accordingly, a plan or issuer may not impose cost-sharing on the ring or the patch.
The new interim final rules expand which entities may claim a religious exemption, and the new rules add a "moral conviction" exemption to the contraceptive coverage requirement.
Previously restricted to only houses of worship and closely held companies, the first rule allows both nonprofits and for-profit employers (including publicly traded companies) to qualify for an exemption and drop contraceptive coverage from their plans, based on an objection to contraceptive coverage founded on religious beliefs.
The second rule adds a moral conviction accommodation, and allows all employers, except publicly traded companies, to qualify for an exemption and drop contraceptive coverage from their plans, based on an employer’s moral objection to contraceptive coverage.
If an applicable employer is exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage requirement, it must provide notice to employees and participants of the plan if the plan previously covered contraceptives and will no longer cover them.
In some cases, applicable employers will be required to notify the federal government of their objections.
Have questions regarding the regulatory changes in this Alert? Then, please contact a Plexus client service team representative in Deer Park, Ill. (847-307-6100), Chicago (312-606-4800), Dallas (972-770-5010), or Oklahoma City (405-840-3033). We’re here to help – and we’re happy to help.