The IRS, EBSA and HHS developed the new group wellness program standards to implement Section 1201 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). PPACA Section 1201 lets group health plans offer wellness programs, but it prohibits plans from using the programs to discriminate against people with health problems.
The federal agencies -- the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) -- said today they will compromise by requiring wellness incentive programs to use a "reasonable design."
"These final regulations state that a wellness program is reasonably designed if it has a reasonable chance of improving the health of, or preventing disease in, participating individuals, and is not overly burdensome, is not a subterfuge for discrimination based on a health factor, and is not highly suspect in the method chosen to promote health or prevent disease," agency officials said in a preamble to the final rule, Incentives for Nondiscriminatory Wellness Programs in Group Health Plans (CMS-9979-F) (RIN 0938-AR48).
At R&R, we take wellness to a whole new level. Wellness programs will increase the health and longevity of employees and their families –which means that businesses can have a lot control over their health insurance costs and the productivity of their employees – control that they don’t know they have. At R&R Insurance, we call this program WellCompForLife!
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For more information about WellCompForLife, about self-funding your health insurance plan, health care reform or basic employee benefits questions, contact knowledgebroker Laura Stehno.
