Hey Compliance Warriors!
On October 4th, the DOL and 2 other federal agencies issued an FAQ addressing the legality of reducing premiums for vaccinated individuals. The guidance says a group health plan may offer COVID-19 vaccinated participants a premium discount if the discount complies with federal wellness program regulations. Among other requirements, the reward can’t exceed 30% of the cost of employee-only coverage and employers will likely need to offer an alternative to vaccination.
Here is the full FAQ. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/EBSA/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-50.pdf
Here is a snippet of the FAQ:
May a group health plan (or health insurance issuer offering coverage in connection with a group health plan) offer participants in the plan a premium discount for receiving a COVID-19 vaccination?
Yes, if the premium discount complies with the final wellness program regulations.9,10
A premium discount that requires an individual to perform or complete an activity related to a health factor, in this case obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination, to obtain a reward would be considered a wellness program that must comply with the five criteria for activity-only wellness programs described in paragraph (f)(3) of the final wellness program regulations.11
To satisfy these criteria, a wellness program that provides a premium discount to individuals who obtain a COVID-19 vaccination must be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease and must provide a reasonable alternative standard to qualify for the discount. For example, the wellness program may offer a waiver or the right to attest to following other COVID-19-related guidelines to individuals for whom it is unreasonably difficult due to a medical condition or medically inadvisable to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination in order to qualify for the full reward. The plan must also provide notice of the availability of the reasonable alternative standard under the wellness program. Further, the reward the plan provides in connection with the vaccine incentive program must not exceed 30 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage and must give individuals eligible for the program the opportunity to qualify for the reward under the program at least once per year.
Example:
A group health plan offers a 25 percent premium discount of the cost of employee-only coverage to all participants who receive a COVID-19 vaccination in accordance with the recommendations of ACIP (and does not offer any other reward under other health-contingent wellness programs with respect to the plan). To help facilitate participants receiving the vaccination, the plan also maintains a toll-free hotline to answer questions about COVID-19 vaccination and offer assistance to schedule appointments to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The plan provides the same premium discount to individuals for whom it is unreasonably difficult due to a medical condition or medically inadvisable to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination if the individual attests to complying with the CDC’s mask guidelines for unvaccinated individuals. The plan also provides notice of the availability of this alternative to all participants. Participants may qualify annually for this premium discount.
Conclusion:
The vaccine incentive program meets the criteria to be an activity-only health-contingent wellness program. The reward the plan provides in connection with the vaccine incentive program does not exceed 30 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage and the opportunity to qualify is offered annually. The plan provides a reasonable alternative standard to qualify for the reward, in this case the opportunity to attest to complying with the CDC’s mask guidelines, to individuals for whom it is unreasonably difficult due to a medical condition or medically inadvisable to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination, and the plan provides notice of the availability of the reasonable alternative standard. This program is also reasonably designed to promote health and prevent disease (and is not a subterfuge for discriminating based on a health factor), as the program rewards individuals who obtain a COVID-19 vaccination, while the reasonable alternative standard is not overly burdensome, and is also designed to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Further, the plan’s maintenance of a toll-free hotline to provide information about the COVID-19 vaccine and assistance with meeting the underlying standard (in this case, receiving a COVID-19 vaccination or fulfilling the reasonable alternative) are additional facts and circumstances demonstrating that the program is reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease because they help ensure that the program is not overly burdensome.
Footnotes:
9 Compliance with the final wellness program regulations is not determinative of compliance with any other provision of the PHS Act, ERISA, the Code, or any other State or Federal law, including the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). See 26 CFR 54.9802-1(h), 29 CFR 2590.702(h), 45 CFR 146.121(h), 29 CFR 1630, and 29 CFR 1635. Furthermore, these FAQs address wellness program incentives provided by group health plans and health insurance issuers and do not address incentives offered by employers as part of workplace policies and unrelated to their group health plan. Employers considering the adoption of COVID-19 vaccination programs that provide incentives should consult Section K of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws. Questions K.16. through K.21 restate the current guidance under Title I of the ADA and Title II of GINA.
10 See 78 FR 33158 (Jun. 3, 2013).
11 The final wellness program regulations provide that a health-contingent wellness program that is an activity-only wellness program does not violate the wellness program provisions only if all of the following requirements are satisfied: (1) the program must give individuals eligible for the program the opportunity to qualify for the reward under the program at least once per year; (2) the reward for the activity-only wellness program, together with the reward for other health-contingent wellness programs with respect to the plan, must not exceed the applicable percentage (defined as 30 percent (or 50 percent for wellness programs designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use) of the total cost of employee-only coverage under the plan); (3) the program must be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease; (4) the full reward under the activity-only wellness program must be available to all similarly situated individuals (which includes allowing a reasonable alternative standard (or waiver of the otherwise applicable standard) for obtaining the reward for any individual for whom, for that period, it is unreasonably difficult due to a medical condition or medically inadvisable to satisfy the otherwise applicable standard); and (5) the plan or issuer must disclose in all plan materials describing the terms of an activity-only wellness program the availability of a reasonable alternative standard to qualify for the reward (and, if applicable, the possibility of waiver of the otherwise applicable standard), including contact information for obtaining a reasonable alternative standard and a statement that recommendations of an individual’s personal physician will be accommodated. See 26 CFR 54.9802-1(f)(3), 29 CFR 2590.702(f)(3), and 45 CFR 146.121(f)(3).
