The bulk of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2014. Even though large employers don’t necessarily need to go through the chess game of whether or not to offer insurance — pay or play — a number of new initiatives still come online.
The community rating rules, which limit how insurance carriers can classify small employer groups, the individual mandate and $8 billion insurer tax all will shape health care and premiums in the coming year.
“You’ve got to keep your eyes open, and continue to see what’s going on,” says Mark Haegele, director of sales and account management at HealthLink.
Smart Business spoke with Haegele about how to develop a year-end checklist of responsibilities related to health care reform.
What is the first thing an employer must do?
The ACA is not going away, so you must determine how the law applies to your business.
Let’s say you are contemplating offering in 2015 minimum essential coverage plans, ‘skinny plans,’ that just cover preventive care. Employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees may want to consider making this move in 2014, even though the employer-shared responsibility provision, or employer mandate, isn’t in effect. This prevents employees from getting subsidies and going through the new health care exchanges, or marketplaces, and then losing these funds in 2015 when you move over to a lower-level plan.
Consider any future health care changes, and how they will impact your employees for the next couple of years. You don’t want to aggravate staff and cause retention problems.
What’s important to know about your insurance?
Many people expect to see sharp spikes in health insurances costs and premiums after Jan. 1, 2014, which could be unsustainable. The $8 billion insurer tax, which likely will be passed onto employers in the form of premiums, is being calculated as a 4 to 6 percent increase. The community rating rules could drive premiums up by more than 60 percent if your insurance group is a young, healthy population. Out-of-pocket maximums have been limited to no higher than $6,350 for self-coverage and $12,700 for family coverage for most insurance.
The upcoming January 2014 health insurance renewals are the last to come into compliance before many large employers face fines. Consider where you are, and the steps it will take to come into compliance before your 2015 renewal.
Business executives need to analyze the costs and benefits of remaining with their current insurance plan or moving to self-funding, which has more freedom from regulations. Take the time to examine this regularly. No one is sure how the insurance market will react to ACA measures.
Beyond strategic decisions, what concrete actions need to be completed?
You need to make sure you sent out the notice to your employees about the new health care marketplaces, or exchanges, required as of Oct. 1, 2013. It’s a good idea to include this with your orientation materials to ensure all new employees are notified.
In addition, a Summary of Benefits and Coverage, an easy-to-understand summary of health care benefits, must be given to eligible participants at least 30 days before your plan year begins. Your insurer, health reimbursement arrangement provider or third-party administrator usually provides this.
Verify your employee-waiting period meets new requirements. A group health plan cannot make new employees wait more than 90 days for health insurance coverage as of Jan. 1, 2014.
Even though the employer mandate was delayed, large, fully insured employers should use 2014 as a trial year. Set up your tracking procedures for employee hours, especially those who work part time, so you can spot any problems. Because of the delay, the government will likely be less tolerant of any mistakes in 2015.
Health care compliance will continue to be a major concern for businesses. You need to make time to understand how the ACA will impact your company, even if it takes outside expertise to manage all your obligations. ●
Mark Haegele is director of sales and account management at HealthLink. Reach him at (314) 753-2100 or [email protected].
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