Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Employers with fewer than 100 workers won’t have to provide health insurance until 2016 under Obamacare, as the administration said it would again delay a key requirement of the health law.
Larger firms have to cover at least 70 percent of the workforce starting next year, the Internal Revenue Service said in a rule issued today.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act envisioned as a cornerstone of its expansion of U.S. insurance coverage that employers with 50 or more workers would be required to provide health benefits to their employees. Under pressure from business groups, the Obama administration has weakened that requirement since July, first by delaying enforcement of the mandate until 2015. Many firms will have even more time under the regulation issued today.
“While about 96 percent of employers are not subject to the employer responsibility provision, for those employers that are, we will continue to make the compliance process simpler and easier to navigate,” Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark J. Mazur said in a statement. “Today’s final regulations phase in the standards to ensure that larger employers either offer quality, affordable coverage or make an employer responsibility payment starting in 2015 to help offset the cost to taxpayers of coverage or subsidies to their employees.”
The rule provides employers far more flexibility than allowed by the language of the health law, which levies fines of as much as $3,000 per worker against firms that don’t comply with the requirement.
Read the full article HERE
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Navigating a New Health Plan, After the Surge
YOU’VE no doubt heard about problems some people are encountering when they try to use the health insurance they’ve bought through the federal and state exchanges. A backlog of applications, the result of a surge in enrollments at year’s end for coverage starting this month, has resulted in many people experiencing delays in getting insurance cards, policy numbers or authorization for treatment.
Keith Lichtman, an interior designer in Manhattan, knows the problems only too well. He had to pay out of pocket for treatment for strep throat because his doctor’s office could not verify his coverage under a plan he enrolled in through New York’s state-operated marketplace, NY State of Health. He hopes to be reimbursed, but he said a series of missteps since he enrolled has left him frustrated. “There was a real lack of organization in the New York health exchange,” he said, adding that he also got confusing information from his new health insurer.
Mr. Lichtman had an individual health plan that, like millions of others, was canceled because it did not meet requirements under the Affordable Care Act. After a few false starts in November — he said he encountered shutdowns at the New York website, and long waits getting questions answered on the phone — he was able to enroll in a new plan through UnitedHealthcare. He paid his first month’s premium through UnitedHealthcare’s website on Dec. 20, and arranged to have his monthly premium automatically deducted from his bank account.
When he called to check on his coverage, he was first told that the plan had no record of his first month’s premium, so he paid it again — only to have the first payment show up, resulting in an overpayment. (He requested a credit and has received it, he said.)
In early January, Mr. Lichtman developed a sore throat and went to his doctor, even though he had not received an insurance card. But the office could not verify his enrollment; a billing clerk tried unsuccessfully to contact both UnitedHealthcare and the New York exchange while he waited.
Mr. Lichtman ended up paying for the visit, as well as for a prescription his doctor gave him for strep. The doctor’s office said it would resubmit his bill and reimburse him once his enrollment was verified.
After several tries, he was able to log into the New York exchange website late one night last week to verify his enrollment. Mr. Lichtman has since received his insurance card in the mail. But he said he ran into trouble getting his plan’s computer system to recognize his choice of a primary care doctor, which is necessary before he can get referrals to specialists. He has been told it will become effective on Feb. 1.
Mr. Lichtman also said that he received an email notifying him of an additional charge of about $900, which turned out to be a bill for another patient that was mistakenly sent to him.
Read the full article HERE
Monday, February 3, 2014
Your Healthcare Solution
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Tuesday, January 21, 2014
House to vote on stopgap funding, PPACA
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is promising to veto, if necessary, a Republican effort to wreck President Barack Obama's health care law as part of House legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown.
The official policy statement, issued Thursday, said the GOP attempt to block "Obamacare" ''advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class" and would deny "millions of hard-working, middle-class families the security of affordable health coverage."
The veto threat was expected and wasn't going to stop House Republicans from pressing their effort to defund the health care law.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House will pass a bill Friday to keep the government running while undercutting Obama's health care law.
"The fight over here has been won. The fight over there (in the Senate) is just beginning," Boehner said Thursday. "I expect my Senate colleagues to do everything they can to defund this law, just like the House is going to do."
Boehner also addressed the need for Congress to raise the government's borrowing cap to avoid a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations. Boehner said: "Let me be very clear. Republicans have no interest in defaulting on our debt — none."
While raising the possibility of a government closure, the latest GOP plan is actually aimed at avoiding one. GOP leaders are looking to shift the fight over health care to even more important legislation required to prevent the government from defaulting on its financial obligations.
Even top advocates of the strategy to defund Obama's health care law by attaching it to a stopgap government funding bill acknowledge it has no future in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Democrats have the votes to strip away the health care provision and send the stopgap measure right back to the House.
Continue Reading HERE
The official policy statement, issued Thursday, said the GOP attempt to block "Obamacare" ''advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class" and would deny "millions of hard-working, middle-class families the security of affordable health coverage."
The veto threat was expected and wasn't going to stop House Republicans from pressing their effort to defund the health care law.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House will pass a bill Friday to keep the government running while undercutting Obama's health care law.
"The fight over here has been won. The fight over there (in the Senate) is just beginning," Boehner said Thursday. "I expect my Senate colleagues to do everything they can to defund this law, just like the House is going to do."
Boehner also addressed the need for Congress to raise the government's borrowing cap to avoid a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations. Boehner said: "Let me be very clear. Republicans have no interest in defaulting on our debt — none."
While raising the possibility of a government closure, the latest GOP plan is actually aimed at avoiding one. GOP leaders are looking to shift the fight over health care to even more important legislation required to prevent the government from defaulting on its financial obligations.
Even top advocates of the strategy to defund Obama's health care law by attaching it to a stopgap government funding bill acknowledge it has no future in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Democrats have the votes to strip away the health care provision and send the stopgap measure right back to the House.
Continue Reading HERE
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
SHOP delayed on year
CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama's administration is delaying yet another aspect of the health care law. An online health insurance marketplace for small businesses is being put off until November 2014 to make sure the HealthCare.gov website gets fixed first.
In a conference call with reporters, administration officials said employers who want to buy marketplace plans for their workers now will need to go through an agent, broker or insurance company to buy coverage this year, instead of using a government website. The administration says the plan will still allow small businesses to buy coverage but avoid slowing technical repairs to the hobbled federal online site.
The small business marketplace, also called SHOP, was supposed to provide employers a new way to shop for coverage, and the delay was met with frustration.
"It's disappointing that the online portion of the federal small business marketplace through Healthcare.gov will be delayed, and it's important it get up and running as soon as possible," said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority, an advocacy group. "However, it doesn't change the fact that the marketplace can offer the most competitive combination of price and quality for small businesses purchasing health insurance."
Read the full article HERE
In a conference call with reporters, administration officials said employers who want to buy marketplace plans for their workers now will need to go through an agent, broker or insurance company to buy coverage this year, instead of using a government website. The administration says the plan will still allow small businesses to buy coverage but avoid slowing technical repairs to the hobbled federal online site.
The small business marketplace, also called SHOP, was supposed to provide employers a new way to shop for coverage, and the delay was met with frustration.
"It's disappointing that the online portion of the federal small business marketplace through Healthcare.gov will be delayed, and it's important it get up and running as soon as possible," said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority, an advocacy group. "However, it doesn't change the fact that the marketplace can offer the most competitive combination of price and quality for small businesses purchasing health insurance."
Read the full article HERE
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Safe Harbor Rules Issued for Non-Elective Contributions
The Internal Revenue Service has issued its final safe harbor rules for employers facing business hardships.
The agency ruled that companies that operate at a loss can eliminate or reduce non-elective contributions made to Safe Harbor 401(k) plans midyear.
The Safe Harbor 401(k) has been popular among small business owners because it allows them and their highly-compensated employees to make the maximum contribution either tax-deferred or after tax to their Roth 401(k) regardless of income. In exchange for modest contributions to other plan participants on a matching basis, the plan doesn’t have to go through strenuous nondiscrimination testing requirements that apply to standard 401(k) plans.
Prior to this rulemaking, employers had to have a business hardship to suspend or reduce their non-elective contributions to these plans. Now, employers can reduce or suspend their non-elective contributions no matter what their financial condition as long as they let participants know before the beginning of the plan year that their contributions could be reduced or suspended midyear, and give them 30 days’ notice before the suspension or reduction actually takes place.
According to the IRS in its final rules, which were released Nov. 14, the same rules now apply to both safe harbor non-elective contributions and safe harbor matching contributions.
This is a change from previous rules on matching contributions so the changes don’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2015.
View the article HERE
The agency ruled that companies that operate at a loss can eliminate or reduce non-elective contributions made to Safe Harbor 401(k) plans midyear.
The Safe Harbor 401(k) has been popular among small business owners because it allows them and their highly-compensated employees to make the maximum contribution either tax-deferred or after tax to their Roth 401(k) regardless of income. In exchange for modest contributions to other plan participants on a matching basis, the plan doesn’t have to go through strenuous nondiscrimination testing requirements that apply to standard 401(k) plans.
Prior to this rulemaking, employers had to have a business hardship to suspend or reduce their non-elective contributions to these plans. Now, employers can reduce or suspend their non-elective contributions no matter what their financial condition as long as they let participants know before the beginning of the plan year that their contributions could be reduced or suspended midyear, and give them 30 days’ notice before the suspension or reduction actually takes place.
According to the IRS in its final rules, which were released Nov. 14, the same rules now apply to both safe harbor non-elective contributions and safe harbor matching contributions.
This is a change from previous rules on matching contributions so the changes don’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2015.
View the article HERE
Monday, December 2, 2013
Myth vs. Fact
America’s Small Businesses and the Affordable Care Act:
Myth vs. Fact
Myth: All employers are required to buy health insurance for their employees under the Affordable Care Act.
Fact: The Affordable Care Act does not require businesses to provide health insurance to their employees.
-Starting in 2015, businesses with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees that do not provide coverage to their full-time employees may be subject to an Employer Shared Responsibility payment.
-However, 96 percent of America’s businesses are too small to be subject to these rules.
Myth: Since my state hasn’t set up its own health exchange, the Affordable Care Act doesn’t apply to me.
Fact: Every state will have an affordable insurance Marketplace (commonly known as an Exchange) for self-employed individuals and small businesses, opening for enrollment on October 1, 2013.
-Depending on where you live, the Marketplace will be operated by either your state or the federal government, or through a partnership with the state and the federal government.
-Regardless of location, insurance plans in the Marketplace are offered by private companies, and all plans offered will cover the same core set of benefits called Essential Health Benefits. No plan can turn you away or charge you more because you or your employees have an illness or medical condition.
-For more information about the Marketplace for small employers, known as the Small Business Health Care Option Program (SHOP), call 1-800-706-7893 (TTY users: 1-800-706-7915), Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
Read more HERE
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