The October 1st deadline for employers to provide employees with notice of their health insurance exchange options is quickly approaching. As part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this rules applies to all employers with at least $500,000 of annual sales, regardless of whether or not an employer offers its employees health care coverage. If your business falls within this criteria, find out what you need to do.
The online health care exchanges to launch
The exchanges will launch on October 1st, 2013 for health care coverage starting on January 1st, 2014. States have setup Small Business Health Option (SHOPs) programs, which allow those with less than 100 employees to have the option to buy health insurance as a group. The health care exchanges are intended for employees that aren’t part of an employer-sponsored health plan or if the employer-sponsored health plan is too expensive or fails to offer essential health benefits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this new marketplace will lower health care costs by 1% to 4%.
What does the notice need to include?
Employees must receive a notice from employers that includes information about the health care exchanges. In addition, the notices must clearly indicate the costs for using such a plan as well as the consequences for not utilizing the employer-sponsored plan. It’s important that the employers have a way of tracking delivery of the notices. To access sample notices, please reference the department of labor website here for employers with plans and here for employers without plans.
What is the penalty for failure to provide employees with the notices?
At this point it appears as though there would not be a fine or penalty. However, that may be subject to change and we would recommending sending the notices per the requirement.
More Questions? Ask your business health insurance questions or find a cpa online.
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