February 24, 2014
The U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services announced the publication of final regulations implementing a 90-day limit on waiting periods for health coverage as part of the reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act on February 20, 2014. These regulations require that no group health plan or group health insurance issuer impose a waiting period that exceeds 90 days after an employee is otherwise eligible for coverage. The rules: Do not require coverage be offered to any particular employee or class of employees; Are designed to ensure that eligibility conditions based solely on the passage of time are not used to evade the waiting period limit by stating that such conditions cannot exceed 90 days; Include other permissible eligibility requirements, such as meeting certain sales goals, earning a certain level of commission, or successfully completing an orientation period; Allow provisions requiring employees to complete a certain number of hours before becoming eligible for coverage as long […]