A new health insurance assessment will impact employer-provided health insurance plans to pay for new behavioral health call-in lines.

The new assessment was included in HB 2728 (2020) and created the Partnership Access Line (PAL) program. The programs under the PAL umbrella provide mental health consultations and connect patients to behavioral health services for children, teens, mothers, and adult patients with behavioral health or substance abuse disorders. The programs are funded through an assessment on health carriers, self-funded multi-employer welfare arrangements, and employers and other entities (like self-funded entities or employee benefit plans). Health plans are required to provide a “covered lives report” each quarter and the assessments will be based on the information in those reports. As such, there is no information at this time about how much assessments for particular insurance plans are expected to cost.

The PAL assessment is administered by a third party group, KidsVax, LLC, who should have reached out to health plan administrators this summer about the new reporting requirement and assessment.

For members of AWC’s Employee Benefits Trust, the Trust has determined that, as the plan sponsor, it is the entity responsible for filing the necessary reports and paying the PAL assessment. Cities that are not insured through the Trust should contact their health insurer to confirm that the new requirements are being met. The initial quarterly reports for calculating the first assessment were due August 31, but at this time there does not appear to be a penalty for late reporting.

Here is a useful FAQ on the PAL assessment. AWC has also reached out to the Health Care Authority for more information on the PAL program rollout and will report on any additional developments.