Congress has recently passed the Omnibus Spending Bill to avoid a government shutdown before the new year. Contained within that bill is a provision addressing telehealth services for calendar year 2023 and beyond.

As a reminder, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) created a temporary telehealth benefit for HSA-eligible High Deductible Health Plans. The CARES Act allowed participants to have telehealth care covered by their HDHP without needing to meet a deductible (“first-dollar” coverage). This provision was initially meant to sunset after calendar year 2021, but it was temporarily extended through the end of 2022. The Omnibus Spending Bill has now further extended this benefit for HSA-eligible HDHPs for plan years beginning after December 31, 2022 and before January 1, 2025.

Because this telehealth benefit was initially expected to end on January 1, 2023, some plans may have updated their plan documents and removed references to this benefit from them. Employers should be sure that their plan documents have the most up-to-date information and check with their health insurance issuers/carriers to ensure that this benefit has not been removed.