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Tag: employer funded health care benefits

Administration Delays the Employer Mandate––But What About Small Employers?

The administration suddenly announced tonight that the requirement that all employers with 50 or more workers offer health insurance has been delayed until 2015.

If an employer with 50 or more workers did not provide health insurance to their full time workers in 2014, they would have been subject to a fine of $2,000 per worker. The employer would have also been subject to a $3,000 fine for each worker that went to the insurance exchanges if the employer package was not affordable.

Why did the administration delay the large employer mandate?

Because many employers have been in the early stages of planning to cut back the hours of workers in order to avoid having to offer insurance to those customarily considered part time, those who work at least the 30 hours per week the law established for defining a full time worker––and they haven’t been bashful in telling their employees why. In addition, there has been growing evidence that some employers were holding back on hiring in order to avoid more of the mandate costs at a time of high unemployment.

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Breaking: White House Delays ACA’s Employer-Coverage Mandate For One Year

The Obama administration is delaying for one year the employer mandate requiring companies to offer their employees health insurance.

Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur posted a blog late Tuesday confirming that the 2014 mandate on employers with more than 51 full-time workers to offer qualifying health insurance coverage to their employees or face a penalty was being delayed until 2015.

The delay was meant to give time to simplify reporting requirements and to adapt health coverage and reporting systems, he wrote. It means that one of the key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is unpopular among many business groups, will not take effect until after the 2014 congressional elections.

Bloomberg News reports that the White House plans to invite employer groups to discuss ways of easing administrative burdens created by the mandate.

Click here to read more.

Breaking: White House Delays ACA’s Employer-Coverage Mandate For One Year

The Obama administration is delaying for one year the employer mandate requiring companies to offer their employees health insurance.

Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur posted a blog late Tuesday confirming that the 2014 mandate on employers with more than 51 full-time workers to offer qualifying health insurance coverage to their employees or face a penalty was being delayed until 2015.

The delay was meant to give time to simplify reporting requirements and to adapt health coverage and reporting systems, he wrote. It means that one of the key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is unpopular among many business groups, will not take effect until after the 2014 congressional elections.

Bloomberg News reports that the White House plans to invite employer groups to discuss ways of easing administrative burdens created by the mandate.

Click here to read more.

Survey: Employees Don’t Want Control Over Health Care

Report reveals a sobering gap in employee readiness to handle and take on the shift toward consumer-driven health plans.

As more and more employers look at defined contribution health care and other insurance shifts, will employees be ready? Last year, J.D. Power and Associates reported that 47% of employers “definitely” or “probably” will switch to a defined contribution health plan in the coming years.

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The third annual Aflac WorkForces Report reveals a sobering gap in employee readiness to handle and take on the shift toward consumer-driven health plans and defined contribution health. A majority of workers (54%) would prefer not to have more control over their insurance options, citing a lack of time and information to manage it effectively, while 72% have never even heard the phrase “consumer-driven health care.”

Aflac and Research Now surveyed 1,884 benefits leaders and 5,229 wage-earners and found arresting disconnects in their expectations, plans and views of the future. For example, 62% of employees think their medical costs will increase, but only 23% are saving money for those hikes. A full three-quarters of the workforce think their employer will educate them about changes to their health care coverage as a result of reform, but only 13% of employers say educating their employees about health care reform is important to their organization.

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