The Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released a Bulletin extending numerous deadlines to allow plan participants, beneficiaries, employers and plan sponsors affected by Hurricanes Helen and Milton and Tropical Storm Helene additional time to make coverage and other decisions that affect health benefits.
This relief is similar to the outbreak period made available during the COVID emergency. If you were involved in employee benefit administration during that time, you will recall that the outbreak period was a period that was disregarded for compliance with many benefit timeframes. The recently issued guidance for Hurricanes Helene and Milton and Tropical Storm Helene provides a similar type of relief for impacted individuals in the following affected areas:
- Florida:
- Hurricane Helene
- September 23, 2024, through May 1, 2025
- Hurricane Milton
- October 5, 2024, through May 1, 2025
- Georgia (Hurricane Helene):
- September 24, 2024, through May 1, 2025
- North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia (Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Helene):
- September 25, 2024, through May 1, 2025
- Tennessee (Tropical Storm Helene)
- September 26, 2024, through May 1, 2025
The relief for all disaster areas ends May 1, 2025. At that time, the grace period for taking certain benefit actions will begin to run. Timeframes that have been extended are as follows:
- Special enrollment timeframes
- COBRA timeframes
- Claims administration
- 5500 filing extended to May 1, 2025
By way of illustration, if an individual experiences an event, such as a COBRA qualifying event, during the outbreak period, the individual’s 60-day election period would begin to run May 1. Similarly, if an individual has a baby, which is a HIPAA special enrollment opportunity, during the outbreak period the special election enrollment period would begin to run on May 1.
For areas affected by Hurricane Helene, click here and for areas affected by Hurricane Milton click here.
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