COVID National Emergency Ends Early Impacting Health Plans

On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed a resolution ending the COVID-19 National Emergency. As we had previously reported, the National Emergency originally was scheduled to end on May 11, 2023 – at the same time as the Public Health Emergency. This acceleration means that the tolling of participant deadlines for making COBRA and special enrollment elections, filing claims and appeals, and making COBRA premium payments until 60 days following the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency will now end on June 9, 2023, as opposed to July 10, 2023, as previously expected. In other words, any such deadlines that were tolled during the National Emergency will begin to run on June 10, 2023. However, the benefit coverage mandates that were adopted in response to the pandemic, including coverage of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations without cost sharing and coverage for over-the-counter tests, which are tied to the Public Health Emergency, not the National Emergency, will continue to apply until May 11, 2023.