Benefits Buzz
The Exchanges are supposed to have verification systems in place to help determine if an enrollee has access to affordable health insurance coverage from their employer. Since the Employer Mandate reporting requirements are being delayed until 2015, the Exchanges won't have this verification system in place next year.
Instead the Exchanges will have to rely on self-reporting for this information in 2014.
By this time you have probably already heard that the Employer Mandate has been delayed until 2015. In simple terms, no employer will be penalized in 2014 for failing to offer health insurance (or failing to offer affordable health insurance).
Here are 5 key ACA items for employers to know.
The initial Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee for plan years ending after September 30, 2012 will be payable by July 31, 2013. Employers are required to pay this fee on plans that are considered to be self-insured.
Insurance companies will pay the PCORI fee on fully insured plans. However, the updated Form 720 in which the fees are paid gives the impression that employers are also responsible for this fee on fully insured plans.
Section 3210 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) required nominal cost sharing to be added to Medicare Supplement Plans C & F. Under the current structure these Medicare Supplement plans eliminate nearly all of the cost sharing that is associated with Original Medicare.
It has been a common belief by many people that Plans C & F cause excessive and unnecessary utilization as a result of the limited cost sharing. The expectation was that Section 3210 would modify Plans C & F to include some form of a front-end deductible to encourage more appropriate uses of physician services.
Millions of Americans Countdown to October 1st
Less than 3 months from today marks the start of the 6 month open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As officials scramble to promote the new healthcare reform enrollment season, we at Flexible Benefit Service LLC (Flex) have been keeping up-to-date with the fluid changes of rules and regulations contained within the growing law.
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced on Tuesday that the Employer Mandate will be delayed until 2015. This rule is also commonly referred to as the Employer Shared Responsibility requirement or the Pay or Play provision.
The Employer Mandate was set to impose financial penalties starting in 2014 on employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees that failed to offer health insurance to employees, as well as those employers that offered health insurance that was considered unaffordable.
