The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires applicable large employers (ALEs) to offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to their full-time employees or possibly pay a penalty. The evolving coronavirus crisis has raised questions on how employers should determine what a full-time employee is during periods of layoff, furlough, and COVID-19 …
The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects the privacy of patient’s health information but is balanced to ensure that appropriate use and disclosure of information remains necessary during a public health emergency. This information may be used to treat a patient, protect public health, and may be used for other critical purposes. …
In efforts to ease consumers’ concerns about healthcare costs in light of the COVID-19 crisis, at least nine states have reopened their health insurance exchanges for uninsured residents to enroll in coverage. The response stems from the necessity for uninsured patients to be able to receive the medical care they …
On March 2, 2020, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a third major challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after rulings in two other major cases confronted core previsions of the healthcare law. The court agreed to hear the case in its new term which begins in October 2020. …
On February 21, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel released a memorandum clarifying that there is no applicable statute of limitations on pay or play penalty assessments under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Meaning, there is no time limit for the IRS to assess penalties for …
Since 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has continuously extended a transition policy for certain health plans that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This policy has been extended another year. Health insurance issuers have the option of renewing current polices for current enrollees …
On January 31, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2021. The proposed rule explains the benefit and payment parameters under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If finalized, the provisions included in the proposed rule would apply for …
On January 21, 2020, the United States Supreme Court denied motions to expedite consideration of Texas v. Azar, the lawsuit which challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate. The decision to deny expediting the case follows a United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit …
Not only did the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law on December 20th, repeal three taxes under the Affordable Care Act; the law also extends payment of PCORI fees for the next ten years (2020 through 2029). The ACA created the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to help patients, …
On Friday, December 20th, President Trump signed H.R. 1865 into law, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, which included a full repeal of three taxes originally imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA): Repeal of the Cadillac Tax beginning in 2020, which would have imposed a 40% excise tax …
On December 9, 2019, the IRS released final 2019 forms and instructions for reporting under Internal Revenue Code Sections 6055 and 6056. These forms and instructions require certain employers to provide information to the IRS about their health plan coverage. While similar to the 2018 versions, it is important to …
Every year employers that sponsor group health plans are subject to numerous reporting and disclosure requirements. Not all compliance requirements will apply to every employer, but group health plan sponsors should familiarize themselves with health plan compliance deadlines. For non-calendar year plans, these deadlines will need to be adjusted to …
The IRS has updated their Questions and Answers (Q&As) on the employer shared responsibility rules under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to include adjusted penalty amounts for 2019 and 2020. According to the FAQs, the penalty amounts will be increased as follows: For calendar year 2019, the adjusted $2,000 amount …
On May 5, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Procedure 2017-36 to index the contribution percentages in 2018 for purposes of determining affordability of an employer’s plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For plan years beginning in 2018, employer-sponsored coverage will be considered affordable if the employee’s required contribution for self-only coverage does …
The deadline for e-Filing 1094-C forms is coming up on June 30. In theory, e-Filing should accelerate the submission of these Affordable Care Act forms, but the reality we have observed is that many Applicable Large Employers are having difficulty filing forms electronically. The lesson here for employers is that …
