April 7, 2015
The most commonly known aspect of the Affordable Care Act is that it requires all employers with 50 or more full time and/or full time equivalent employees to provide health insurance to at least 95% of those employee and their dependents up to age 26, or face costly monetary penalties. However, there are many more facets of the health care law that are not as commonly known. Some of these are summarized below.
- Regardless of if you are offering your employees health insurance or not, you are required to provide them with information regarding the nationwide Health Care Marketplace.
- If you are offering your employees health insurance, it must be done within 90 days of their start date with your organization.
- If you are providing your employees health insurance, you must give them a “Summary of Benefits and Coverage” form, which is a standard form that outlines their various health insurance options.
- The law states employees can contribute no more than $2500 per year to their flexible spending accounts. However, there is no limit to employer contributions. Additionally, the employer now has the option of allowing their employees to carry over up to $500 of unused flexible spending dollars into the next year, or provide employees with an additional 2.5 months into the new year to use their leftover funds. This is a change from the previous system of use or lose.
- The Affordable Care Act creates incentives to employers for creating employee wellness programs. These incentives can cover up to 30% of the employer’s health care expenses.
- Under the Affordable Care Act, every employer providing minimum essential health care coverage must report this information through a form with the Internal Revenue Service.
- The law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of their premium dollars on medical care, or else provide rebates to their policy holders.