FY23 Government Funding Bill Boasts Telehealth and Retirement Benefits

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FY23 Government Funding Bill Boasts Telehealth and Retirement Benefits

Published on: December 20, 2022

Topics: Employment Law, Health Care, Washington Updates

With contributions from: Mark Wilson, President and CEO, American Health Policy Institute | VP, Health and Employment Policy and Chief Economist, HR Policy Association, Gregory Hoff, Associate Counsel, HR Policy Association, and Margaret Faso, Director of Health Care Research and Policy, American Health Policy Institute and HR Policy Association

Updated December 22, 2022

The $1.7 trillion year-end FY23 spending bill to fund the government through September 30, 2023 includes the following provisions of interest to HR Policy Association members.

The Senate passed the government funding bill on Thursday, December 22 by a 68-29 vote. The bill will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass. Thereafter, the bill will be sent to the President for his signature to avert a government shutdown.

Health Care

A two-year extension to continue to allow a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with a HSA to cover telehealth services prior to a patient reaching the deductible. This means that telehealth and other remote care services could be covered pre-deductible without violating federal rules for HDHPs paired with an HSA. This extension will sunset December 31, 2024, unless Congress takes future action to extend or make it permanent. HR Policy Association successfully advocated for the inclusion of this provision and will continue our efforts in the 118th Congress to make this provision permanent.
Funding for care models which integrate primary and behavioral health care (collaborative care model) to increase access for needed mental health and substance use disorder services. The Association successfully advocated for the inclusion of this provision.

Department of Labor

The Department of Labor was granted a budget of $13.8 billion for 2023, short of the $14.6 billion requested by the White House, but individual agencies.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs was granted a budget of $110 million, which amounts to an increase of roughly $2 million from the previous year.
The Wage and Hour Division of the DOL was granted a budget of $260 million, a 3.5% increase from the previous year.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was granted a budget of $632 million, a 3.3% increase from the previous year.
The Employee Benefits Security Administration was granted a budget of $191 million, a 5.5% increase from the previous year.

The National Labor Relations Board

The NLRB is slated to receive a 9.1% increase in funding for FY23 for a total budget of $299 million. The NLRB has received the same $274 million budget since fiscal year 2014. Agency officials requested $18.7 million in new expenses, while Congressional Democrats and President Biden asked for a 34% and 16% increase, respectively. The actual budget increase granted comes in well below each of these requests. Republican NLRB Board Member Ring’s recent departure gives Democrats a 3-1 majority. President Biden likely won’t nominate a replacement until this summer, when Democrat Gwynne Wilcox is expected to be renominated. In the meantime, the NLRB split 3-1 ensures each three-member board panel—which decides most non-precedential cases—is controlled by the majority party. For the Democratic majority board this will mean more pro-union decisions, as it eliminates the chance for rulings in which two Republican members determine the outcome over a Democratic member’s dissent.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Lawmakers allocated $2.15 billion to the SEC for FY23, an eight percent increase to its budget and the full amount that Chair Gensler requested earlier this year. The SEC’s appropriations for fiscal 2022 were $1.99 billion.

Although the agencies received an increase in funding for FY23, the overall budget across the board falls short of the amounts requested by President Biden and Democrats. Nonetheless, the increase in funding levels for DOL, the NLRB and the SEC is a clear indication that HR Policy Association members should be prepared for increased regulatory action in the next year.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

With strong backing from HR Policy and others in the business community, the year-end spending bill includes The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S. 1486). The PWFA would require employers to provide "reasonable accommodations" for pregnant employees and job applicants. The reasonable accommodation standard and associated protections proposed by the PWFA largely resemble what employers are currently required to do for employees with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA does not consider pregnancy a disability, nor is it generally considered a disability.

The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act

The PUMP Act expands workplace accommodations for nursing mothers to those workers currently exempt, clarify employers' obligations under the law, and ensure nursing mothers have access to appropriate remedies if an employer fails to provide an accommodation or a reasonable break time. The Association supported this bill when it passed the House chamber last year and encouraged the Senate to take action.

Retirement

Automatic enrollment in new retirement plans: Beginning January 2024, employers who implement new retirement plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, would be required to automatically enroll all eligible employees with a contribution rate of at least 3% in the first year, increased annually until the employee is contributing 10% of their pay (but not more than 15%). Employees could opt out or select a different contribution amount. The provisions would not apply to plans established before the bill’s enactment.

Increased age for required minimum distributions: Increases the age at which individuals are required to begin taking minimum distributions from their retirement plans from 72 to 73 starting in 2023, 74 starting in 2030, and 75 starting in 2033.

Increased limit for catch-up contributions: Keeps the existing catch-up contribution limits for those aged 50 but increases the annual limit on catch-up contributions to $10,000 (up from the current $6,500) for individuals aged 62 through 64. The amounts would continue to be adjusted for inflation.

Allow employers to match student loan payments: Beginning January 2024 allows employers to contribute a matching amount to an employee’s retirement plan for those that are making payments on student loans, equal to the amount of the loan payments. The eligible payments cannot exceed the limit on employee contributions to retirement plans for the year.

Long-term part-time workers: Reduces the number of years of service after which part-time employees are eligible for an employer-sponsored retirement plan from three years to two years (the employee must work between 500 and 999 for two consecutive years to be eligible). This provision is applicable beginning after December 31, 2024.
Tax- and penalty-free 529 plan rollovers to Roth IRAs: Beneficiaries of 529 college savings accounts would be permitted under certain conditions to roll over up to $35,000 over the course of their lifetime from any 529 account in their name to their Roth IRA. These rollovers are also subject to Roth IRA annual contribution limits, and the 529 account must have been open for more than 15 years. This section is effective with respect to distributions after Dec. 31, 2023.
Establishes a retirement savings lost and found: The bill creates a national online searchable database at the Labor Department for Americans’ retirement plans. The database will enable retirement savers, who might have lost track of their pension or 401(k) plan, to search for the contact information of their plan administrator. The bill directs the creation of the database no later than two years after the date of enactment into law.