Congress’s spending bill adds to benefits options

Plan sponsors, their members, and benefits advisors were given new resources and options for 2023 benefits planning with Congress’s passage of the omnibus spending bill in late December.

Elected officials approved a series of employee-related measures when they enacted the bill.

Among them:

Pre-deductible telehealth coverage: This measure extended for another two years enhanced access to telehealth services for employees with high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts. By removing the barriers of copays and deductibles, the extension is designed to encourage employees to take greater advantage of such services – including mental health services delivered via telehealth.

“Pre-deductible coverage helps employees because it allows insurance providers to cover telehealth services without requiring a copay or deductible upfront,” says SHRM Chief of Staff and Head of Public Affairs Emily M. Dickens. SHRM advocated for the extension as well as other benefits enhancements included in the bill.

Mental health education resources: The spending bill includes a call to action to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to encourage states to implement education programs that employers can access to provide mental health assistance to their employees.

Skills-based hiring: The bill recognizes that the demonstration of skills and abilities is as important to the hiring process as the source of the acquisition of those skills. Increasingly, a job applicant’s knowledge of a skill is what employers are seeking, rather than a certificate or proof of degree from an educational institution. The bill provides guidance to employers for identifying and using skills-based employment tests that meet federal regulations.

“Skills-based hiring better recognizes the abilities of all workers, regardless of where these skills are learned,” says SHRM’s Dickens.

Pregnant worker protections: SHRM and others lobbied for inclusion of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in the spending bill. Aligned closely with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the PWFA assists employers in determining how to manage the workload and leave time of a pregnant worker once an employee requests an accommodation.

Related: SECURE 2.0 included in $1.7B spending bill as Congress winds down

“This legislation features important workplace protections for pregnant workers while ensuring employers have flexibility and clarity regarding how to best ensure pregnant employees can remain in the workplace,” SHRM says in a release. “Importantly, leave may be provided as an accommodation only after the interactive process cannot identify a reasonable accommodation within the workplace.”