Health Insurance Industry Issues and Legislation

With 80% of U.S. workers experiencing mental health issues in 2020, employers are moving to destigmatize mental health issues and address employee mental health needs. Many are going further, embracing benefits and policies beyond mental health care by offering employees more flexible schedules, additional leave, and parenting and family-specific benefits. All are designed to improve employees' mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. Employers are also focusing on implementing new strategies to address workplace mental health in the coming year.

The Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (tri-agencies) have issued a new final rule with adjustments to current requirements that group plans and insurers must follow to continue their status as grandfathered plans under the Affordable Care Act. Under the new rules, grandfathered plans will be able to impose higher cost-sharing requirements without losing their grandfathered status. There is also a new "special rule' for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and an alternative method for grandfathered plans to calculate the maximum percentage increase for fixed-amount cost-sharing has been added.