Washington state recently passed legislation requiring health insurers for fully-insured plans and plan sponsors (employers) for self-insured plans to file a quarterly report and remit an assessment by November 15, 2021. The initial assessment amount is $0.13 per covered life based on the number of enrollees who are Washington state residents in the months of July, August, and September 2021. Subsequently, the new rate is scheduled to be set annually prior to the end of October.
The purpose of the assessment is to fund the new state program called the Washington Partnership Access Lines funding program (WAPAL Fund), which provides funding for certain psychiatry and behavioral sciences consultation and referral lines programs overseen by the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA).
Self-insured plan sponsors who have Washington residents in the plans must register themselves on the state’s assessment system site by entering their Federal EIN and the company’s representative’s email address and submitting a covered lives report on the same site. The assessment can be submitted via mail to the PO Box on the remittance form or via ACH transaction. The detailed payment information will appear after the covered lives reporting is submitted successfully.
The WAPAL Fund site provides helpful training materials that outline how to register and complete a covered lives report on their site. Those resources can be found here.
After the first deadline on November 15, 2021, the applicable self-insured employers and other responsible payers need to log in to the WAPAL Fund system at the end of every calendar quarter to file a covered lives report and receive an invoice for the quarterly assessment due. These assessments are due 45 days after the end of every quarter. Specifically, payments are due November 15, February 15, May 15, and August 15 for the quarters ending September 30, December 31, March 31, and June 30, respectively.
WAPAL Fund main site »
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