Most of the regulations and guidance analyzed in the “Following the ACA” Health Affairs Blog series are issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS shares jurisdiction over the implementation of the ACA’s insurance reforms, however, with the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the Department of the Treasury. On July 11, EBSA posted a proposed rule on annual reporting and disclosure while EBSA, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) posted an identical proposed revision of annual reporting forms and reports.
The proposed regulation relates to revisions to Form 5500, the Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plans and Form 5500-SF, Short Form Annual Return/Report for Small Employee Benefit Plans. Pension and other employee benefit plans have long been required to file the form 5500, which focuses on the financial condition and operation of such plans. Form 5500 serves as an important disclosure document for plan participants and beneficiaries, but also serves as a critical enforcement, compliance, and research tool for EBSA, the IRS, and the PBGC; it also provides information for other federal agencies, Congress, and the private sector as well.
There are an estimated 2.3 million employee health plans covering, together with other health and pension plans, roughly 143 million private sector workers, retirees, and dependents. These numbers dwarf the numbers of plans and enrollees participating in the marketplace. Form 5500 is the primary source of information, funding, and investments of these plans.
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