LEGISLATIVE UPDATES the plan or the employer/plan sponsor— e.g., if a consultant receives compensation from an insurance carrier, an industry ven-dor or TPA not in the form of commissions. I know that many brokers are in panic mode about these disclosure requirements. I, however, welcome them. I guess that is because I have worked in the ERISA world for all of my career, where disclosure is already required in most cases (particularly over 100 lives). I believe that this disclosure requirement is actually a way to show your value as a broker and consultant. If you provide fewer services than many other brokers, this could alarm you, but if you are providing a number of services for your clients, this should be a way to prove your worth to them. I recommend that brokers/consultants begin now to identify all group health plans where broker or consulting services are provided to determine all sources of direct and indirect compensation, and determine all compensation that meets the $1,000 threshold. Then you should begin to design your disclosure notice and determine the best way to produce this to your clients. For most, particularly large agencies, this would be easier if automated so that timely disclo-sures can be provided at the end of the year. TRANSPARENCY There are four significant provisions of Di-vision BB of the CAA: gag clauses (effective January 1, 2021), compensation disclosure (effective December 27, 2021), mental health parity (effective February 10, 2021, and pharmacy benefit and drug cost report-ing (effective December 27, 2021). The gag-clause section states that health plans may not enter into an agreement with a provider, TPA or other service provider that would restrict the plan (directly or indirectly) from providing provider-specific cost or quality of care information or data, electronically accessing de-identified claims and encounter information, and sharing such information with a business associate. I RECOMMEND THAT BROKERS/CONSULTANTS BEGIN NOW TO IDENTIFY ALL GROUP HEALTH PLANS WHERE BROKER OR CONSULTING SERVICES ARE PROVIDED TO DETERMINE ALL SOURCES OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT COMPENSATION. The mental health parity section states that group and individual plans that provide medical and surgical benefits and mental health/substance abuse benefits must per-form and document comparative analysis. The pharmacy-benefit section requires plans to disclose the cost of commonly prescribed medications annually. These are only simple explanations of the transparency require-ments in the CAA. UNEMPLOYMENT PROVISIONS The CAA includes an extension and phase-out of unemployment benefits, including extending benefits to current recipients with benefits remaining to March 14, 2021, including relief for governmental entities and nonprofit organizations. The CAA provisions limit unemployment assistance to any week prior to April 5, 2021, and increases the number of weeks from 39 to 50. In addition, it adds additional unemployment funding of $300 per week for weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December 26, 2020, and ending before March 14, 2021. GRANDFATHERED HEALTH PLANS—FINAL RULES On December 11, 2020, the Department of Labor, HHS and Treasury released the final rule for grandfathered health plans. The final rule amends the requirements for grandfathered group health plans and grandfathered group health insurance cov-erage to preserve their grandfathered status. benefitspecialistmagazine.com | ABS 21
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