This is the Health Care Reform category of the Broad REach Benefits blog. At Broad Reach Benefits, we focus on employers that have between 30 and 500 benefit eligible employees. We’re employee benefit specialists, not a big box brokerage firm or payroll company with a sales force peddling policies.
IRS Issues Affordability Percentage Adjustment for 2020
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Rev. Proc. 2019-29, which contains the inflation adjusted amounts for 2020 used to determine whether employer-sponsored coverage is “affordable” for purposes of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility provisions and premium tax credit program. As shown in the table below, for plan years beginning in 2020, the affordability percentage for employer mandate purposes is indexed to 9.78%. Employer shared responsibility payments are also indexed.
| Code Section | 4980H(a) | 4980H(b) | 36B(b)(3)(A)(i) |
| Description | Coverage not offered to 95% (or all but 5) of full-time employees. | Coverage offered, but unaffordable or is not minimum value. | Premium credits and affordability safe harbors. |
| 2020* | $2,580 | $3,870 | 9.78% |
| 2019* | $2,500 | $3,750 | 9.86% |
| 2018 | $2,320 | $3,480 | 9.56% |
| 2017 | $2,260 | $3,390 | 9.69% |
| 2016 | $2,160 | $3,240 | 9.66% |
| 2015 | $2,080 | $3,120 | 9.56% |
| 2014** | $2,000 | $3,000 | 9.50% |
*Section 4980H(a) and (b) penalties for 2019 and 2020 are projected.
**No employer shared responsibility penalties were assessed for 2014.
Under the ACA, applicable large employers (ALEs) must offer affordable health insurance coverage to full-time employees. If the ALE does not offer affordable coverage, it may be subject to an employer shared responsibility payment. An ALE is […]
IRS Expands HSA Preventive Care Safe Harbor to Include Chronic Conditions
On July 17, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2019-45, which expands the definition of preventive care benefits that can be provided by a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to include certain chronic conditions. The guidance in the Notice may be relied uponimmediately. In general, most HDHP participants may establish and contribute to a health savings account (HSA), unless there is disqualifying coverage—such as having other medical benefits available besides preventive care before the minimum annual deductible is satisfied.
Overview
Under Section 223(c) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), an HSA-qualified HDHP is not required to impose a deductible for certain preventive care services. This preventive care safe harbor includes services such as annual physicals, well-childcare, and immunizations. Notably, prior to the Notice, preventive care did not include any service to treat existing illnesses, injuries, or conditions. Likewise, drugs or medications were treated as preventive care only when taken by a person who has developed risk factors for a disease that has not yet manifested itself or has not yet become clinically apparent (i.e., the individual is asymptomatic) or when the drugs are taken to prevent the recurrence of a disease from which a person has recovered.
Ultimately, the goal of the preventive care safe harbor is to encourage HDHP participants to receive routine care with a lower cost barrier, which should lead to better health outcomes. By expanding the list of medical services that can be classified as preventive care, the IRS recognizes that cost barriers for care have resulted in some individuals with certain chronic conditions failing to seek care that would prevent exacerbation of their condition, which can lead to consequences such as amputation, blindness, heart attacks, and strokes that require considerably […]
Final Rule Released on Individual Coverage and Excepted Benefit HRAs
On June 13, 2019 the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department (the “Departments”) released the final rule concerning health reimbursement arrangements (HRA) for individual market coverage and excepted health benefits. The rule, based on an executive order from President Trump in 2017, is intended to increase choice in plan options, which could lead to greater flexibility in choice and provide more affordable healthcare. The final rule impacts many different entities and individuals, including employers, health plan issuers, employees, plan sponsors, and those who purchase individual health plans. This rule is effective for plan years starting January 1, 2020. Background An HRA is an account-based health plan that allows employers to reimburse employees for medical care expenses. It is funded solely by employer contributions. Amounts reimbursable under an HRA are typically limited to a certain amount during a certain period (for example, $500 for expenses incurred during a calendar year). Under prior IRS rules issued as part of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, HRAs offerings were limited to an extent. Under those rules, an employer may offer an HRA to employees only if the HRA is “integrated” with a qualifying group health plan. Under the new final rule, some of the restrictions have been eliminated, and the Departments have determined that other types HRAs can be integrated with individual market coverage and Medicare in a way that meets statutory requirements. Notably, under the final rule, an employer of any size could offer an Individual Coverage HRA that can be used to pay for Medicare (e.g., Parts B and D) and Medicare Supplement premiums, as well as other medical care expenses, without violating the Medicare Secondary Payer rules. […]
Get a Nasty Letter 226-J from the IRS? Enforcement for 2016 Pay Or Play Rules Begins
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began issuing enforcement letters related to employers’ compliance with the employer shared responsibility rules under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the 2016 calendar year. These letters, known as Letter 226-J, inform employers of their potential liability for an employer shared responsibility penalty, if any, for 2016.
The IRS only sends these letters to employers that are subject to the employer shared responsibility rules, known as applicable large employers (ALEs). The determination of whether an ALE may be liable for a penalty, and the amount of the proposed penalty in Letter 226-J, are based on information from Forms 1094-C and 1095-C filed by the ALE and the individual income tax returns filed by the ALE’s employees.
What You Need To Do
Employers that receive a Letter 226-J must respond to the letter, either agreeing with the proposed penalty or disagreeing with part or all of the proposed amount. The IRS provides an employer response form, Form 14764, for employers to use for this purpose. The IRS maintains a website on understanding Letter 226-J for employers who receive an enforcement letter.
Background
The ACA’s employer shared responsibility rules require ALEs to offer affordable, minimum value health coverage to their full-time employees or pay a penalty. These rules, also known as the “employer mandate” or “pay or play” rules, only apply to ALEs, which are employers with, on average, at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, during the preceding calendar year.
The employer shared responsibility rules took effect for most ALEs beginning on Jan. 1, 2015. However, some ALEs may have had additional time to comply with these requirements. An ALE may be subject to a penalty only if one or more […]
District Court Judge in Texas Strikes Down the ACA – But Law Remains in Effect for Now
On Friday, December 14, a federal judge in Texas issued a partial ruling that strikes down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional. The White House has stated that the law will remain in place, however, pending the appeal process. The case, Texas v. U.S., will be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, and then likely to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs in Texas (a coalition of twenty states) argue that since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act zeroed out the individual mandate penalty, it can no longer be considered a tax. Accordingly, because the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA in 2012 by saying the individual mandate was a legitimate use of Congress’s taxing power, eliminating the tax penalty imposed by the mandate renders the individual mandate unconstitutional. Further, the individual mandate is not severable from the ACA in its entirety. Thus, the ACA should be found unconstitutional and struck down.
The court in Texas agreed, finding that the individual mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause—meaning it is unconstitutional. Also, the court found the individual mandate is essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA, which would include not only the patient protections (no annual limits, coverage of pre-existing conditions) but the premium tax credits, Medicaid expansion, and of course the employer mandate and ACA reporting.
Several states such as Massachusetts, New York and California have since intervened to defend the law. They argue that, if Congress wanted to repeal the law it would have done so. The Congressional record makes it clear Congress was voting only […]
IRS Extends Deadline for Furnishing Form 1095, Extends Good-Faith Transition Relief
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Notice 2018-94, extending the deadline for furnishing 2018 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals from January 31, 2019 to March 4, 2019, as well as penalty relief for good-faith reporting errors.
The due date for filing the forms with the IRS was not extended and remains February 28, 2019 (April 1, 2019 if filed electronically). Despite the repeal of the “individual mandate” beginning in 2019 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the ACA’s information reporting requirements remain in effect, as the IRS uses the reporting to administer the employer mandate and premium tax credit program. The IRS is studying whether and how the reporting requirements under section 6055 (relating to insurance companies and self-insured plans) should change, if at all, for future years.
The instructions to Forms 1094-C and 1095-C allow employers to request a 30-day extension to furnish statements to individuals by sending a letter to the IRS with certain information, including the reason for delay. However, because the Notice’s extension of time to furnish the forms is as generous as the 30-day extension contained in the instructions, the IRS will not formally respond to requests for an extension of time to furnish 2018 Forms 1095-B or 1095-C to individuals.
Employers may still obtain an automatic 30-day extension for filing with the IRS by filing Form 8809 on or before the forms’ due date. An additional 30-day extension is available under certain hardship conditions. The Notice encourages employers who cannot meet the extended due dates to furnish and file as soon as possible and advises that the IRS will take such furnishing and filing into consideration when determining whether to abate penalties […]
Medical Loss Ratio Rebates
Medical Loss Ratio Rebates Under the Affordable Care Act
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has provided guidance on the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA’s”) medical loss ratio (“MLR”) rule, which requires health insurers to spend a certain percentage of premium dollars on claims or activities that improve health care quality or provide a rebate to policyholders. HHS has released amended and final regulations (the “Regulations”), which govern the distribution of rebates by issuers in group markets. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Technical Release 2011-04 (“TR 2011-04”), which clarifies how rebates will be treated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).
Medical Loss Ratio Rule
The MLR rule requires health insurance companies in the group or individual market to provide an annual rebate to enrollees if the insurer’s “medical loss ratio” falls below a certain minimum level—generally, 85 percent in the large group market and 80 percent in the small group or individual market. For these purposes, the numerator of the MLR equals the insurer’s incurred claims and expenditures for activities that improve health care quality, and the denominator equals the insurer’s premium revenue minus federal and state taxes and licensing and regulatory fees.
Defining Group Size
For purposes of the MLR rule, the Affordable Care Act defines “small” and “large” group markets by reference to insurance coverage sold to small employers or large employers. The Affordable Care Act defines a small employer as one that employs 1-100 employees and a large employer as one that employs 101 or more employees. However, states are permitted to limit the definition of a small employer to one that employs 1-50 employees.
Rebates under ERISA
TR 2011-04 clarifies that insurers must provide any […]
DOL Releases Final Rule Expanding Association Health Plans
DOL Releases Final Rule Expanding Association Health Plans
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule expanding the opportunity of unrelated employers of all sizes (but particularly small employers) to offer employment-based health insurance through Association Health Plans (AHPs). Significantly, the final rule applies “large group” coverage rules under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to qualifying AHPs.
The final rule confirms that AHPs may be formed by employers in the same trade, industry, line of businesses, or profession. They may also be formed based on a geographic test such as a common state, city, county or same metropolitan area (even if the metropolitan area includes more than one State).
The final rule contains staggered effective dates:
- All associations (new or existing) may establish a fully insured AHP beginning September 1, 2018.
- Existing associations that sponsored an AHP on or before the date the final rule was published may establish a self-insured AHP beginning January 1, 2019.
- All other associations (new or existing) may establish a self-insured AHP beginning April 1, 2019.
We will expand upon these issues in future alerts. In the meantime, highlights of the final rule are as follows:
- Existing bona fide associations may continue to rely on prior DOL guidance. The final rule provides an additional mechanism for AHPs to sponsor a single ERISA-covered group health plan.
- AHPs may self-insure under the final rule; however, the DOL anticipates that many AHPs will be subject to state benefit mandates. States retain the authority to adopt minimum benefit standards, including standards similar to those applicable to individual and small group insurance policies under the ACA, for all AHPs.
- The primary purpose of the association may be to offer health coverage to its members; […]
IRS Issues Affordability Percentage Adjustment for 2019
In Rev. Proc. 2018-34, the IRS released the inflation adjusted amounts for 2019 relevant to determining whether employer-sponsored coverage is “affordable” for purposes of the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA’s”) employer shared responsibility provisions and premium tax credit program. As shown in the table below, for plan years beginning in 2019, the affordability percentage is 9.86% of an employee’s household income or applicable safe harbor.
| Code Section | 4980H(a) | 4980H(b) | 36B(b)(3)(A)(i) |
| Description | Potential annual penalty for failure to offer coverage to at least 95% (70% in 2015) of full-time employees (calculated per full-time employee, minus 30 (80 in 2015))[1] | Potential annual penalty if coverage is offered but is not affordable or does not provide minimum value (calculated per full-time employee who receives a subsidy)[2] | Premium credits and affordability safe harbors
Section 4980H penalties may be triggered by a full-time employee receiving a PTC |
| 2019 | $2,500* | $3,750* | 9.86% |
| 2018 | $2,320 | $3,480 | 9.56% |
| 2017 | $2,260 | $3,390 | 9.69% |
| 2016 | $2,160 | $3,240 | 9.66% |
| 2015 | $2,080 | $3,120 | 9.56% |
| 2014** | $2,000 | $3,000 | 9.50% |
* Estimated based on premium adjustment percentage in the 2019 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters
**No employer shared responsibility penalties were assessed for 2014.
Under the ACA, applicable large employers (ALEs) – generally those with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees on average in the prior calendar year – must offer affordable health insurance to full-time employees to avoid an employer shared responsibility payment. Coverage is “affordable” if the employee’s required contribution for self-only coverage under the employer’s lowest-cost minimum value plan does not exceed 9.5% (as indexed) of the employee’s household income for the year. In lieu of household income, employers may rely on one or more of the following safe harbor alternatives when […]
New Jersey Enacts State Individual Mandate and Reinsurance Program
On May 30, 2018, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed two bills into law that are designed to stabilize and reduce health insurance premiums in the individual market.
- The New Jersey Health Insurance Market Preservation Act is a state individual mandate, requiring individuals in New Jersey to maintain acceptable health coverage or pay a penalty, effective in 2019.
- The New Jersey Health Insurance Premium Security Act establishes a health insurance reinsurance plan in the state. New Jersey intends to seek federal funding for this program through a Section 1332 State Innovation Waiver made available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
These new laws are among the first state laws passed in response to changes made to the federal ACA. New Jersey is only the second state to enact its own health insurance individual mandate. Individuals in New Jersey should ensure that they are in compliance with the state individual mandate beginning in 2019.
State Individual Mandate
Effective beginning in 2019, the New Jersey Health Insurance Market Preservation Act imposes a state individual mandate that largely mirrors the ACA’s federal individual mandate requirement. The ACA’s individual mandate penalty has been effectively eliminated beginning in 2019.
New Jersey’s individual mandate requires most individuals in the state (and their family members) to be covered under minimum essential coverage for each month of the year, beginning in 2019. Individuals that don’t obtain acceptable health insurance coverage will be penalized.
Notably, the new law provides that the state individual mandate penalty will not be enforced for any tax year in which the ACA’s federal premium tax credits become unavailable.
Minimum Essential Coverage
For purposes of the New Jersey individual mandate, the term “minimum essential coverage” (MEC) has the same definition as under the ACA.
MEC […]