Chamber Receives Updates To Affordable Care Act for 2014
The Affordable Care Act is still in its early stages of development and for a variety of reasons will not be in full force for several years.
Impacts on the labor force, for example, have caused delays in implementation –i.e. some provisions of the ACA will raise effective tax rates on earnings from labor, and this will exert pressure on the quantity of labor that employers will demand. It is estimated that the largest impact on labor markets will occur after 2016, when the major provisions of the ACA have taken place, and that the largest declines in labor will most likely occur among lower-wage workers.
The very recent discussions about raising the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 is also going to dramatically affect small business employers, and potentially further reduce the number of hours worked on a weekly basis.
At the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce Business Expo last October, we enlisted a panel of health care experts to discuss the Affordable Care Act, and the audience discussions were very informative. One panel member, Will Glaros, president of Employer Benefit Systems, continues to provide us with valuable updates on the ACA.
For example, On Feb. 10, he informed the chamber that the U.S. Treasury released final regulations implementing the employer “Shared Responsibility” provisions of the ACA. The “Employer Shared Responsibility Payment” applies to businesses with more than 50 full-time employees who do not offer insurance, or whose coverage does not meet certain minimum standards.
These new employer mandates are as follows:
Employers with 50-99 full-time employees will have another year delay until the mandate starts in 2016
For employers with 100 or more full-time employees, while the delay has not been extended, the requirement that you offer medical coverage to 95 percent of your employees has been reduced to 70 percent
NO employer with fewer than 50 full-time employees is subject to the employer shared responsibility payment in any year.
There are fears in the workplace that jobs will be eliminated, and/or hours for workers drastically cut, to reduce an employer’s full-time equivalents (The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that reduced hours in the workplace could equate to the loss of over 2 million jobs annually).
With over 90 percent of employers being small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, we should begin to see positive changes in the nation’s workplace as young entrepreneurs begin to realize the rewards of risk-taking and leave the comforts of a 9-to-5 jobs to start exciting new businesses.
To keep abreast of the latest changes in the Affordable Care Act, and how your business will be impacted, continually refer to www.healthcare.gov for the latest updates.
Dave Ryan is the executive director of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. The opinions expressed are his own. He can be reached at dryan@lakeshorechamber.com or (219) 931-1000.
2/14/2014 12:00:00 AM
|
|
|
