On June 25, 2014, HHS and the Departments of Labor and Treasury are publishing a final rule addressing the treatment of employment orientation periods for purposes of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance coverage waiting period limitation. The ACA generally bars employer-sponsored group health plans and group health insurance issuers from imposing a health coverage waiting period of more than 90 days after an employee is "otherwise eligible for coverage." Being "otherwise eligible" to enroll in a plan means having met the plan's substantive eligibility conditions, which could include satisfying a bona fide employment-based orientation period. Under the June 25 final rule, such bona fide employment-based orientation periods may not exceed one month. The rule is intended to "ensure that an orientation period is not used as a subterfuge for the passage of time, or designed to avoid compliance with the 90-day waiting period limitation." The final regulations apply to group health plans and group health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2015.
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