On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) into law, supplementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). McNees attorneys have written a whitepaper on the areas of these Acts that apply directly to employers, summarizing each provision and grouped by their effective date. To read the full whitepaper, (see article below for link).

The core goal of health care reform was to provide health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured. The legislation attempts to achieve this goal through a variety of approaches, including tax credits, penalizing employers that don’t offer affordable coverage and individuals who fail to obtain coverage, creation of “health insurance exchanges,” expansion of Medicare Part D coverage and taxing high cost insurance plans.

The most sweeping changes brought by the Act do not take effect until 2014 and 2018, and existing health plans may be “grandfathered” or exempt from certain requirements. However, a number of important provisions take effect in 2010 and 2011 for all health plans.

The reform package is extremely broad in scope, and it will take time for employers to develop appropriate plans for compliance. As an initial step, employers should work with their insurance providers and brokers, third-party administrators, counsel and accountants to determine which of the 2010 requirements apply to them and the appropriate compliance steps.