U.S. Department of Labor headquarters in Washington. Credit: Adobe Stock
The U.S. Labor Department hopes to release final health benefits agent and broker compensation disclosure regulations by December.
The regulations will be part of a No Surprises Act implementation rule.
The project also includes regulations for an air ambulance services provision in the act, which is supposed to protect patients with health coverage from huge bills when they use an out-of-network service to cope with a medical emergency.
The act is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. President Donald Trump signed the act into law in December 2020, during his first term in office.
The Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration joined with the Internal Revenue Service, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Personnel Management to release draft regulations in September 2021.
The project has been at the "final rule stage" for years.
The Labor Department included the entry in a new semiannual regulatory agenda update announced Thursday.
The department has a total of eight projects at the final rule stage.
Amber Rivers is listed as the project contact.
One question is whether the department will want to wait for EBSA to have a permanent director before moving ahead with the project.
Daniel Aronowitz, a veteran labor lawyer and insurance company executive, received an endorsement from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in June, but Senate leaders have not yet scheduled a confirmation vote.
Other health benefits items on EBSA's updated agenda, which are all at the proposed rule stage, include:
Transparency in coverage health price disclosure regulations: Draft regulations could appear this month.
Pharmacy benefit manager fee disclosure regulations: Draft regulations could appear in November.
No Surprises Act advanced explanation of benefits rules: Draft regulations could appear in April 2026.
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