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Hire Dynamics in the News: A Resource for Questions Surrounding the ACA

By Hire Dynamics
CATEGORY: News

By: Dan Campbell, CEO, Hire Dynamics

Last month, our CFO Jon Neff was featured in a piece for Proformative.com, “Your Burning Questions About the Health Care Act Finally Answered.” He is quoted, as follows: “CFOs like foregone conclusions and are most effective in safeguarding their company’s assets, resource allocations and maximizing ROI, when there are known variables. There is so much uncertainty about the new law’s financial impact.”

The uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act has been widely expressed, both in the media and by organizational leaders in all industries and in small, medium and large businesses alike. In the spirit of “knowledge is power,” we wanted to share two of the common questions and offered answers from the piece. We encourage you to read the article in full, as it is chock-full of valuable information that will hopefully help to alleviate some uncertainty for you and your organization.

Question: Does the ACA apply to me if I have fewer than 50 employees?
Answer: Most likely the employer mandate does not yet apply, but double check this with your tax or benefits advisor. You will have to worry about the excise tax in 2014 and deal with other aspects of the law. These include the requirement to distribute certain notices to employees, the prohibition on making new employees waiting for new coverage for longer than 90 days, and the elimination of lifetime and annual limits, says Logan Hinkle, a partner specializing in employee benefits with the law firm of Burr & Forman.

Question: For companies with over 50 employees, what sort of coverage do we have to offer?
Answer: Beginning in 2015, those companies subject to the employer mandate must offer coverage that is “affordable” and provides “minimum value,” or they may be liable for the employer penalty. Most employers seem to be using the IRS safe harbor of 9.5 percent of employees’ W-2 income to determine the affordability of their single-coverage plans, says Hinkle.

Read the full piece, “Your Burning Questions About the Affordable Care Act Finally Answered“.