Information about the Comparative Effectiveness Research Fee in 2019

The Affordable Care Act imposes an annual fee called the Comparative Effectiveness Research Fee (CERF) on insurers and plan sponsors of self-insured coverage to help fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). This post includes a brief review of CERF.

CERF Payment Details
The fee is based on the average covered lives for the applicable 12-month policy or plan year. It is paid using IRS Form 720 by July 31 each year for the plan year that ended in the preceding calendar year. As a reminder, employers must use their ERISA plan year if it is different from the renewal date. The fees for 2019 are:

Final Rule Issued Allowing HRAs to be Used for Individual Coverage
June 17, 2019

On June 13, the U.S. Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (tri-agencies) issued a final rule allowing employees to use the dollars in employer-funded Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs, also called Health Reimbursement Accounts) to purchase individual coverage both on and off the public Marketplace (or Exchange). The rule also creates a new excepted benefit HRA (EBHRA) to enable employees to be reimbursed for excepted benefit costs. This finalizes a proposed rule issued in Oct. 2018 largely as proposed, but with some modifications. The rule follows through on an Executive Order that directed the tri-agencies to consider ways to expand the flexibility of HRAs.