As we previously reported, on June 13, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) issued a coordinated set of final regulations (“final rules”) permitting employers...more
11/11/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
HRA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Health Service Act ,
Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Plan (QSEHRAs) ,
Safe Harbors ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
U.S. Treasury
Responding to widespread resistance—principally on the part of small businesses—to the increase in the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (“EMAC”) contributions and the addition of an EMAC supplemental contribution,...more
In a November 20, 2017 post, we reported on Massachusetts’ passage of H. 3822, “An Act Further Regulating Employer Contributions to Health Care,” (the “Act”), the purpose of which is to shore up the finances of the...more
12/14/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Covered Employees ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicaid ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Tax Penalties ,
Unemployment Insurance
The Internal Revenue Service has for some time made available a comprehensive set of Questions & Answers covering the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules. (These are the rules that are codified in...more
In Q&A format, recently issued Notice 2015-87 addresses a number of pressing issues that have arisen under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including that law’s employer shared responsibility rules, information reporting...more
It took a while, but most employers and their advisors have finally gotten the hang of the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules. That is, they understand generally that:
1. “Applicable Large...more
Affordability—i.e., whether health coverage is “affordable”—occupies an important place in the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) regulatory scheme. Under that law’s individual mandate, no penalties are imposed for failure to...more
As we noted in a previous post, the recently issued final 2015 Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C changed certain of the rules relating to the reporting for offers of COBRA coverage where the COBRA qualifying event...more
10/29/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
COBRA ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Funded Health Plans ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Termination ,
U.S. Treasury
When reporting offers of coverage to full-time employees under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules, much of the detail appears in Part II of IRS Form 1095-C, Lines 14, 15 and 16. For the most...more
10/23/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
IRS ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
New Hires ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule
The Affordable Care Act’s reporting rules—which are set out in Internal Revenue Code §§ 6055 and 6056—solicit the information needed by the Internal Revenue Service to enforce the individual and employer shared responsibility...more
9/15/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Look-Back Measurement Period ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Subsidies
The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules provide applicable large employers (i.e., those with 50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees on business days during the preceding calendar...more
9/10/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Excise Tax ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
MEWAs ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Professional Employer Organization ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Taft-Hartley Act ,
Tax Credits
When it comes to mergers and acquisitions involving at least one applicable large employer (ALE), the substantive rules governing employer shared responsibility (under Internal Revenue Code § 4980H) and the corresponding...more
9/1/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Asset Purchaser ,
COBRA ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Social Security Taxes ,
Stock Deals ,
Successors ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Wages
Under a common strategy for controlling group health care plan costs, employers sometimes adopt arrangements under which an employee is offered cash as an incentive to waive coverage. These arrangements are colloquially...more
8/25/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Final Rules ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Form 1095 ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Incentives ,
Individual Mandate ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
Opt-Outs ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Subsidies ,
Waivers
As we reported last week, the IRS recently issued draft 2015 Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. These instructions are of interest to applicable large employers who must report their compliance with the Affordable Care...more
8/19/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
HRA ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Section 6055 ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Supplemental Insurance
Alden Bianchi, Chair of Mintz Levin’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice, will provide a weekly installment on the complex reporting obligations outlined by the Affordable Care Act for health insurance...more
Reports in the popular media portrayed King v. Burwell as a case involving premium tax subsidies used to purchase health insurance from public exchanges or marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to an...more
7/7/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
IRS ,
King v Burwell ,
SCOTUS ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
State Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Subsidies ,
Tax Credits
Employers and their HR departments are faced with a host of new issues and challenges. When you’re not navigating new state, federal, and local laws and making sure systems are in place to comply with them, you’re busy...more
In this volume, we have collected the 52 weekly blog posts that comprise the series entitled, The Affordable Care Act—Countdown to Compliance for Employers. The series appeared in the Mintz Levin Employment Matters Blog...more
2/25/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cafeteria Plans ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
Honeywell International ,
HSA ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
Pay or Play ,
Self-Insured Health Plans ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Wellness Programs
The Affordable Care Act requires applicable large employers to make broad-based offers of group health insurance coverage to substantially all their full-time employees or face potential tax penalties. (The term “applicable...more
Regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules including the substantive “pay-or-play” rules and the accompanying reporting rules were adopted in February. Regulations...more
Many applicable large employers—i.e., employers that are subject to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules—have a pretty good sense of what these rules are, how they work, and what they plan to...more
As applicable large employers grapple with the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility (pay-or-play) rules, two questions arise with notable frequency...more
12/8/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Cafeteria Plans ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
IRS ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Pay or Play ,
Public Health Service Act ,
Shared Responsibility Rule
Applicable large employers faced with the prospect of complying with the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules must grapple with and understand what is means to make an offer of minimum essential coverage...more
Under the Affordable Care Act’s rules governing employer shared responsibility—which are codified in Internal Revenue Code § 4980H—where an applicable large employer makes an offer of group health plan coverage that is both...more
In last week’s post, we examined the appropriateness of capping the annual hours of new “variable hour employees” as a way to limit exposure under the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules. (These rules...more