The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have extended the public comment period for their “Transparency in Coverage” proposed rule to March 2, 2026.
The agencies’ underlying proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2025 (90 FR 60432). These proposed rules would amend regulations under the Public Health Service Act, ERISA, and the Internal Revenue Code to update price transparency reporting requirements for non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers, with a focus on improving the standardization, accuracy, accessibility, and findability of publicly disclosed pricing information (including machine-readable files) and expanding how consumers can access pricing information (including by phone).
In a Federal Register announcement, the agencies said that the comment period, which would have otherwise ended on February 23, was extended by seven days until March 2, following confusion from inconsistent communication about the deadline and questions on how to submit comments.
The IRS, EBSA, and CMS direct commenters to submit comments using the methods set out in the December 23, 2025 proposed rule and to use only one method. This includes by (1) electronically via http://www.regulations.gov by following the “Submit a comment” instructions; (2) regular mail to: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-9882-P, P.O. Box 8016, Baltimore, MD 21244-8016; or (3) express or overnight mail to: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-9882-P, Mail Stop C4-26-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.
They also state that comments received before the close of the comment period will be posted publicly, including any personally identifiable or confidential business information included by the commenter, while noting that comments containing threats or suggestions of harm will not be posted on Regulations.gov.
