Employee benefit plan sponsors and administrators continue to address significant changes resulting from recent legislation, regulations and agency guidance. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provided both mandatory and optional changes to employee benefit plans during the COVID-19 national emergency beginning in March 2020. Following the announcement that May 11, 2023, would be the end of the national and public health emergencies, plan sponsors and administrators were tasked with reverting to pre-pandemic rules and making decisions regarding whether some of the changes that had been implemented would be continued or would expire.

Plans should be clear regarding those changes, such as the cost-sharing requirements for COVID-19 testing and telemedicine benefits. Additionally, extended deadlines for certain plan notices, elections and claim/appeal procedures expired, requiring a reversion back to the standard deadlines. The United States Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of the Treasury issued guidance in March 2023 regarding the changes to assist plans with compliance in the transition. Plan documents, summaries and processes should be clear on the post-pandemic rules.

Welfare benefit plans are impacted by changes that are effective in 2024, including the requirement for most employers to file Affordable Care Act ("ACA") information returns electronically. An employer also may be required to amend its cafeteria plan in 2024 if it implemented the optional cafeteria plan election change, allowing an employee to prospectively revoke family coverage if family members elect marketplace coverage during the plan year. This optional change relates to the Internal Revenue Service rule correcting the "family glitch" in determining the affordability of ACA coverage, as affordability was previously determined based on the employee-only premium (regardless of the cost of family coverage).