Obama Administration delays health law’s employer mandate, business reacts

The Obama Administration late Tuesday announced it will delay by one year the employer-mandate requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

 

When approved in 2010, the federal health-care reform law required that companies with 50 or more full-time workers begin providing those employees health-care coverage in 2014, or face penalties. The mandate is now scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2015.

 

Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy, made the announcement yesterday in a blog posting on the website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

 

“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively. We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so,” Mazur said in the blog post.

 

One national business group that opposed the health-care reform law in arguments before the Supreme Court last year says the delay just proves the law is not workable.

 

“This is simply the latest evidence that implementation of this terrible law is going to be difficult if not impossible, and the burden is going to fall on the people who create American jobs,” Amanda Austin, director of federal public policy at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), said a news release. “Temporary relief is small consolation. We need a permanent fix to this provision to provide long term relief for small employers.” Mike Durant, NFIB/New York state director tweeted out Austin’s statement today.

 

 

 

Delay details

 

Mazur’s post was entitled “Continuing to Implement the ACA in a Careful, Thoughtful Manner.”

 

The one-year delay is intended to accomplish two goals, Mazur said.

 

“First, it will allow us to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law. Second, it will provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees,” Mazur said.

 

The Affordable Care Act includes information reporting by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide health coverage. It also requires information reporting by certain employers regarding the health coverage offered to their full-time employees.

 

The Obama Administration expects to publish proposed rules implementing these provisions this summer. That will follow a dialogue with stakeholders, Mazur said.

 

The stakeholders include employers that already provide their full-time workers with coverage exceeding the minimum employer-shared responsibility requirements, he said.

 

Once these rules have been issued, the Administration will work with employers, insurers, and other reporting entities to “strongly” encourage them to voluntarily implement this information reporting in 2014, in preparation for the full implementation in 2015, Mazur said.

 

 

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com