Federal and state governments are manufacturing insurance exchanges/market places as another resource for existing insurance carriers to offer their products and plans. These same products and plans will be available outside the exchanges/market places. For most employers, this new market place will be a redundancy to the way you currently understand insurance to work. The benefactors will primarily be the indigent and certain small businesses that qualify for financial assistance. As always, Cosby Insurance group will provide you thorough analysis of all your choices.
However, the Affordable Care Act (ACA or health care reform law) added a section to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that said employers must provide a written notice to each existing employee. The Department of Labor (DOL) provided an update with temporary guidance and templates of the required notices. Starting on October 1, 2013, the notices have to be given to new employees on the day they are hired. The notices have to be given to existing employees no later than October 1, 2013. The notices will:
- Advise employees about exchanges including a description of the services provided and how they can contact exchanges to request assistance;
- Let employees know they may be eligible for a premium tax credit if the employer-sponsored plan does not meet certain standards, and the employee buys a qualified health plan through an exchange;
- Explains that if the employee buys a qualified health plan through an exchange, he or she may lose the employer contribution to any health benefit plan the employer offers, and that all or a portion of the contribution may be excluded from income for Federal tax purposes.
Please know that the quality and affordability of your employer-sponsored benefits is important to being a competitive employer. Providing competitive and affordable benefits is now more important than ever.
