The Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services jointly issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing employers with greater flexibility in offering health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) to employees. Importantly, if the Proposed Regulations are finalized in substantially its current form, employers would be able to offer employees an HRA that “integrates with” individual health insurance coverage. As a result, these Proposed Regulations, in essence, would enable employers to offer HRAs in lieu of a traditional group health plan to their employees. Additionally, the Proposed Regulations set forth conditions under which an HRA can be recognized as a limited excepted benefit HRA, which provides employers with another vehicle to provide employee benefits to their employees.
The Proposed Regulations are set to take effect for plan years beginning on and after January 1, 2020, although this is dependent on the regulations being finalized. The deadline for submitting comments on the Proposed Regulations was December 28, 2018.