Health Care Reform... Approaching Fast

As an employer, are you prepared for sweeping health care reform changes scheduled to come into effect in 2014?  It's true, the Obama Administration's Health Care Reform Act is being challenged in the Supreme Court and many of those stipulations in the Act may be modified or even dropped, but many legal pundits still believe there will be plenty for employers (and employees) to contend with when the majority of the Act's aspects come into full effect in 2014.

A recent article in Workforce delves into the Health Care Reform's challenges for employers.  It's worth a look, even if you believe you are exempt from a lot of the Act's regulations because you're a small employer.  Remember, even small employers have some requirements with this piece of legislation - designed to increased health care coverage for Americans - and not meeting those requirements could cost you in the pocketbook.  So check out this article and make sure you know where you and your business stands when it comes to this important legislation.

Health Care Reform & The Hidden Tax Change | Bellingham HR Consultant

The new Health Care Reform law is going to impact more than just your health care coverage.  In the finer print of the legislation is tax information that businesses need to be aware of because it does effect their current financial information gathering.  The 1099 is going to be a familiar sight for most.  For more information, read here:  http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/05/smallbusiness/1099_health_care_tax_change/

Survey of Employers and Health Care Reform | Bellingham HR Consultant

Crane Communications Inc. recently published a survey of nearly 3700 executives.  The survey queried business executives on the likelihood of dropping health care coverage due to the passage of the federal health care reform law.

Of those responding, 52.5 percent strongly disagreed with that statement that it wold be better for their organization to stop offering health care benefits and pay a fine under the new law, while 15.3 percent somewhat disagreed with the idea of dropping coverage and paying fines.  While 18 percent somewhat agreed with the idea of dropping coverage, only 14.1 percent strongly believe their organizations would be better off in dropping benefits.

The health care reform language stipulates that beginning 2014, employers with 50 or more full-time employees must offer health care coverage or pay a fine of $2,000 per work per year.  While strong evidence shows employers will not drop health care coverage in favor of a less expensive fine, it is still unclear what the overall impact with be on employer-sponsored health care packages.  In the survey, 43.9 percent of the executives stated the somewhat understood the impact of the law on their business and 38 percent either somewhat agreed or strongly disagreed that they understood the impact.  These are clear indicators the shift to dropping employer-sponsored health care coverage could happen once the vague language in the health care reform law is clarified.

Resource:
Coccia, R. (April 2010)  "Survey Finds Employers Are Unlikely to Drop Health Care Benefits."  Workforce Management, retrieved from http://www.workfroce.com/section/02/feature/27/12/33/index_printer.html

Health Care Reform | Bellingham HR Consultant

The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) released a break down of how the new health care reform signed in by the Obama administration will effect employers and employees. It breaks down to this:

Employer Requirement – Penalties would be assessed on employers with 50 or more employees who fail to offer coverage to employees. The penalty would be assessed if even one employee receives a subsidy to purchase coverage through a health insurance exchange. Employers would also incur penalties if the coverage they offer is considered “unaffordable” to the employee or if the health plan has an actuarial value of less than 60 percent or pays less than 60 percent of covered health care expenses.

Individual Requirement – The new law requires individuals to purchase health insurance coverage or pay a tax penalty beginning in 2014. The penalty, which is phased in, starts at $95 or 0.5% of income per individual in 2014 and increases to $750 or 2% of income in 2016. The penalties for families would be capped at $2,250. Religious and hardship exemptions are available.