President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), on Thursday, March 11. The bill includes extended unemployment benefits, direct checks to individuals and many more impacts on employers, of which you will want to be aware. The bill also allocates money for vaccines, schools, small businesses, and anti-poverty programs, such as an expanded child tax credit that would mean new monthly payments to many parents.
ARPA includes several provisions that relate to employee benefits, including a temporary 100% COBRA subsidy, extension and expansion of paid leave, extension of unemployment benefits, increase of ACA subsidies, and increase on the DCAP contribution limits.
The Benefits Bulletin discusses the ARPA relief bill and the impact to various benefit provisions in more detail. Employers will be hearing more on the various benefit provision impacts of the ARPA from both the advisors and benefit plan administrators.
Contact your Cowden representative for more information on this or other compliance issues.