There’s a comically profound scene in the second “Madagascar” movie. Penguin (management) and monkey (union) committees are negotiating a labor contract. After the monkeys seem to have secured what they want, they add a...more
The October 12, 2017 “Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States” gets things rolling, but this ball will have to roll up hill for months before it can roll downhill. Here’s...more
The “Discussion Draft” released June 22, 2017 by the Senate Budget Committee carries the House Bill number (H.R. 1628) of the American Health Care Act, and kills taxes like the House bill, but there are major differences,...more
Lots of wrecks happen because drivers, staring at what’s directly in front of them, are unaware of dangers coming from other directions. This is an ACA blog, so right now we’re staring at the ACA changes being proposed by the...more
The Tax Man, it turns out, also may assess you for failing to offer substantially all your full-time employees and their dependents affordable, qualifying group health coverage during 2015. We’re swamped with employer...more
Since our earliest postings, we have warned of a notion, prevalent among employee counsel, that an employer plan sponsor unlawfully retaliates against an employee by reducing her work hours in order to deprive her of ACA...more
It’s the “silly season” on the Hill and a busy season for ACA regulators. This article gives you brief notes about Notice 2015-87, information reporting relief and the § 4980I delay buried in the omnibus spending bill....more
12/22/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Code Sections 4980H ,
Davis-Bacon Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Federal Contractors ,
HRA ,
Information Reports ,
Large Employer ,
Penalties ,
Section 6056 ,
Service Contract Act ,
Shared Responsibility Rule
In June 2013, DOL, HHS and IRS explained that they view employer-sponsored wellness programs as narrow exceptions to the ACA’s health status discrimination prohibition. Early this year, the EEOC slathered-on its own rules,...more
11/4/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Inducement ,
IRS ,
Spouses ,
Wellness Programs
In Notice 2015-60 (October 9, 2015), the IRS announced that the PCORI fee will rise to $2.17 per covered life for plan years ending on or after October 1, 2015 and before October 1, 2016. For plan years ending on or after...more
We were asked that recently, proving that there is such a thing as a wrong question. Let’s break it down. The same person may be both a “seasonal worker” and a “seasonal employee,” but those terms are used to discuss separate...more
With little apparent Democrat opposition, the U.S. House of Representatives on September 28 routinely passed a bill to allow employers of 50 to 100 employees to avoid the ACA’s especially heavy regulation of small group...more
...So, why did HHS need over five years to propose the set of rules published September 8? Here are a few highlights. For brevity’s sake, we omit foreign language service requirements, disability accommodation, compliance...more
9/11/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Age Discrimination ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Association Discrimination ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Essential Health Benefits ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Health Insurance ,
Pregnancy ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Health Insurance Marketplace ,
Race Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
State Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Title IX ,
Title VI ,
Transgender
Here’s the coming dilemma: let IRS assess employer mandate taxes based on errant Healthcare.gov subsidy certifications or appeal those errors to prevent those assessments. “Where’s the dilemma?” you say. Here: once you...more
At about the same time as last year, the IRS has released draft ACA coverage information reporting Forms and Instructions to be used early next year. There are many small differences and one HUGE difference. The IRS decided...more
8/13/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
Form 8809 ,
Full-Time Employees ,
IRS ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Required Forms ,
W-2
Code § 4980I (a/k/a/ the “Cadillac Plan tax”) was added by the ACA so that taxpayers with average group health plans would not subsidize, by tax preference, rich plans benefitting chiefly the rich. Section 4980I imposes a...more
Absent applicable transitional relief, most of which vanishes after 2015, an ACA Applicable Large Employer that fails to offer Minimum Essential Coverage to at least 70% of its 2015 full-time employees and their dependents...more
If you had at least 50 but less than 100 full-time employees (on an aggregated basis, including full-time equivalents) in an average month in 2014, then you are an ACA “Applicable Large Employer” with ALE reporting...more