2026 Gag Clause Prohibition Compliance Attestation

Oct. 14, 2026

Applies to All Groups*

Each year, the federal government requires group health plans and health insurance issuers who offer group and individual health insurance coverage to complete a Gag Clause Prohibition Compliance Attestation. The deadline for submitting this year’s attestation to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is Dec. 31, 2026.

We will support our group customers as follows:

Fully Insured, Cost Plus and Minimum Premium Groups: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana will attest on behalf of fully insured group health plans. CMS considers the attestation requirement satisfied when the issuer submits the attestation for a fully insured plan. No further action is required from these groups.

ASO and other self-funded groups (including Blue Balance Funded^SM): Due to the nature of self-funded business, these group customers must submit their own attestation to CMS. To support self-funded groups with their submission, the following confirmation-of-compliance statement is provided regarding BCBSMT’s medical provider agreements to support their attestations in the CMS portal:

BCBSMT does not standardly enter into any medical provider agreements that would prohibit disclosure of information consistent with Section 201 of the CAA. BCBSMT’s medical provider agreements also include “compliance with law” provisions that would make any non-standard language that could be viewed as non-compliant with the CAA ineffective. BCBSMT is not aware of any prohibited gag clauses, as defined by CAA, in its medical provider agreements at this time. If any such language is identified, it will be removed from the contract.

Our approach is unchanged from previous years.

The CMS GCPCA website provides instructions, FAQs and a user manual that may help groups submit their own attestation.

Questions: If you have any questions, please contact your BCBSMT representative.

 

 

*This information will be shared with producers via News from the Blues and employer groups via Employer News.