ACA Employer Coverage Mandate Postponed Until 2015 July 3, 2013 Health Care Reform, News ACA, employer coverage mandate, Affordable Care Act 0 The Obama Administration announced Tuesday that it would delay until 2015 the requirement that all employers with more than 50 full-time employees provide health insurance to their workers or pay fines. This provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was originally set to take effect on January 1, 2014. According to the administration, the delay comes in response to significant concerns from employers about implementation challenges, particularly the administrative burden of the reporting requirements. "We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively," said Mark J. Mazur, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. "We are working hard to adapt and to be flexible about reporting requirements as we implement the law." The delay, according to the administration, will not affect employees' access to the premium tax credits available under the ACA. Formal guidance on the delay will be issued next week. The employer health coverage mandate has been one of the more contentious aspects of the ACA, with many employers noting that it would be cheaper to face the penalty for not offering coverage than to pay for coverage for all employees. Given the delay, it is expected that federal officials would be looking for ways to ease concerns expressed by employers to ensure that compliance with the mandate is high once it is fully implemented. The topic of implementation timelines has been discussed frequently in the past few weeks, with only four months remaining before pre-enrollment in health benefit exchanges is expected to begin on October 1, 2013. Comments are closed.
