News
On Friday,
June 12, the HHS Office of Civil Rights finalized “Nondiscrimination in
Health and Health Education Programs or Activities: Delegation of
Authority” (RIN 0945-AA11) which permanently repeals tagline requirements under section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, effective August 18, 2020.
In August 2019, NADP filed comments supporting
the repeal of 1557 tagline requirements, citing the substantial
financial burden to dental plans. NADP reiterated that dental plans
would continue to provide meaningful access for limited English
proficiency enrollees without the tagline requirements.
The final rule repeals the tagline and notice requirements in 45 CFR @ 92.8,
which enforce section 1557 of the ACA. In addition to other state and
federal tagline requirements for dental plans, 45 CFR @92.8 required
plans to post taglines in “at least the top 15 languages” other than
English in all major publications to enrollees. The final rule made note
of the specific dental issues related to meeting the 1557 tagline
requirements:
…some
commenters estimated that the dental profession has spent over $240
million to date on compliance with the 2016 Rule. The commenter noted
that the time and cost for dental offices to interpret the regulations,
print documents, alter existing publications, and modify websites has
been significant. Several dental offices believe repealing the notice
and taglines requirements will lead to cost savings and will allow staff
to spend time on appropriate patient care and communication instead.
(p.272)
Implementation of the final rule may be delayed by the courts due to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County
which prohibits discrimination against gay and transgender people in
the workplace; there has been discussion that other sections of the
final rule, not related to 1557 taglines, may be considered
unconstitutional under the ruling.
Links:
Please feel free contact Government Relations Analyst Owen Urech with any questions.
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