Benefits Consulting Group of Florida, Inc. – Orlando, FL

The Obama Administration announced on Tuesday, July 3, 2013  that it will postpone the requirement that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide health insurance to such employees or face significant monetary penalties.   The posponement, which pushed the employer mandate back to January 1, 2015,  is designed to “provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible,” according to a July 2 statement by Mark J. Mazur, The Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy.  This means employers won’t pay IRS penalties if they don’t offer health insurance benefits next year.  This one-year reprieve on the employer mandate penalties and reporting obligations does not apply to the other provisions of the ACA that are scheduled to take effect in 2014.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the 2014 contribution limits, deductible minimums and out-of-pocket maximums for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs).

• An HDHP must have a deductible of at least $1,250 for indivdual coberage and at least $2,500 for family coverage (including a minimum $2,500 embedded individual deductible under family coverage) to qualify an individual to contribute to an HSA. These minimum deductibles are unchanged from 2013.
• Out-of-pocket maximums for an HSA-qualifying HDHP in 2014 are $6,350 for individual coverage and $12,700 for family coverage. These are increased from $6,250 for individual coverage and $12,500 for family coverage in 2013.
• Contribution limits for HSAs will be $3,300 for individual coverage and $6,550 for family coverage in 2014. These are increased from 2013’s limits of $3,250 for individual coverage and $6,450 for family coverage. The annual “catch-up” contribution amount for individuals age 55 or older will remain $1,000.

Enrollment under the health-care exchanges is scheduled to begin on Oct. 1, and surveys show the public is still scratching their heads about how the whole thing will work.

A recent HealthPocket consumer survey indicated most people don’t know the difference between a Bronze health plan and a Platinum health plan.  Only 4 percent of those polled correctly answered that the differnce between the plans is the percentage of medical costs paid by insurance.

Meanwhile, a recent survey by InsuranceQuotes.com revealed that 90 percent of Americans don’t know when the health exchanges will open for business.  Only about half of those surveyed knew that health plans must limit the total amount of money that patients have to pay out of pocket each year and that health plans cannot place limits on the total dollar value of benefits that patients receive.

In total, 39 percent of Americans said they are somewhat knowledgeable about the Affordable Care Act.  Twenty-eight percent said they are not too knowledgeable, 21 percent said they are not at all knowledgeable and only 10 percent said they are very knowledgeable.

(Excerpt – 4/3/13  Bloomberg) — Small business employees will have to wait a year before they can choose their own medical plans after the Obama administration delayed a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act intended to provide them with coverage options.

Starting in 2014, workers at companies with fewer than 100 employees were supposed to have been able to choose from a variety of health plans through new small-business insurance marketplaces. They’ll instead wait until at least 2015, according to regulations released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In the meantime, small-business employees will face a situation similar to what most companies offer, with their employers choosing the coverage. Health insurers will still offer the plans, though they’ll be competing for business from companies, not individuals.

Implementation of employee choice in the program won’t be possible next year because of “operational challenges,” according to an HHS statement, which also states the government heard from insurers and others who were worried that health plans, brokers and companies wouldn’t be able to adjust to the new marketplace, called the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, in time.

“This transitional policy is intended to provide additional time to prepare for an employee choice model and to increase the stability of the small group market while providing small groups with the benefits of SHOP in 2014,” the administration said.

New Fees will apply to fund several of the changes mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

New Taxes & Fees

The fees include the health insurer fee, the Transitional Reinsurance Program, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCOR) Fee, the premium tax, the exchange user fee and the high-value plan or “Cadillac”  tax.

Research conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) in November 2011 suggests that insured premiums will increase by at least 2-3 percent as a result of the Health Insurer Fee alone.

There is also a new annual tax imposed by ACA on pharmaceutical companies with more than $5 million in sales. 

Beginning in 2013, ACA also has imposed an excise tax of 2.3 percent on the sales of any taxable medical device.

For more detailed information on the new taxes, please contact our office to discuss what impact these fees will have on your business.   

The U.S. Department of Labor has delayed the original March 1 deadline for employers to comply with the new requirement to provide employees a written notice regarding Health Insurance Exchanges, as required under Health Care Reform.  A new set of FAQs anticipates the timing for distributuion of these ntoices to be the late summer or fall of 2013, but makes clear that employers will not be required to comply until further guidance is issued.

In regards to  the March 1, 2013 deadline for employers to provide a “Notice of the Existence of Exchanges”, which do not exist in Florida at this time,  the Department of Labor has not, to our knowledge,  made sample notices available.  As soon the notice becomes available, we will notify our clients.

Dept of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sat down with Florida Governor Rick Scott to discuss PPACA.  Scott has been an opponent of PPACA, but there has been some post-meeting speculation thatFloridamay agree to implement some aspects of the health reform law.

 Scott’s main opposition to PPACA is cost-related, specifically the cost of the Medicaid expansion and costs associated with state run exchanges.  He is the only GOP governor that has had a meeting with a top Obama official in an attempt to find a common ground in terms of health reform implementation.  During the meeting, Sebelius encouraged Scott to work with the federal government in a partnership exchange and to expand Medicaid, given thatFloridacurrently has the third highest rate of uninsured in the country.

 After the meeting, Scott said that he needs more information about t he law and what impact it will have onFloridafamilies.  While health reform inFloridais still unclear, the bi-partisan effort made by Scott and Secretary Sebelius is certainly a great way to kick off 2013!

Benefits Consulting Group of Florida is pleased to announce that we are one of a select few agencies chosen to represent and sell UnitedHealthcare’s new All Savers plans effective January 1, 2013.  All Savers are designed to have low premiums but also to give employers and employees the ability to choose a custom combination of copayments, medical credits, deductible and pharmacy coverage or to stay with the recommended plan.  It’s your choice and we are here to help.

New York Times  (11/10, Pear, Subscription Publication)  reported that the Obama Administration said on Friday it would extend deadlines for states to file their plans for health insurance exchanges.  States still must tell the government whether they plan to create their own exchanges by Nov. 16, but they will have until Dec. 14 to provide details of how they will do it.   HHS Secretary Sebelius also told governors they can wait until Feb. 15 to file their applications for partnership exchanges with the Federal government.  The times notes that “the White House has repeatedly said that states were making excellent progress toward creation of the exchanges, even as Republican governors and state legislators expressed ambivalence or outright opposition” and sometimes complained that “they were having difficulty because Mr. Obama had yet to issue crucial regulations and guidance.”

 The Miami Herald (11/11, Dorschner) reported that with President Obama’s reelection, “Florida’s Republican leaders are reconsidering their fervent opposition to federal healthcare reform, triggering a discussion that could have huge repercussions forSouth Florida.”  The article noted that Governor Rick Scott and other Florida Republicans are shifting from strict opposition to the ACA to a search “for compromises on how it is carried out in the state.”

 The Palm Beach (FL) Post (11/11 Singer) reports that Scott on Friday “appeared to be softening his longstanding refusal to acknowledge” ACA.  Scott said in a statement, “Just saying ‘no’ is not an answer.  We need to focus on how Obamacare affects each of our families,” before adding he is still “concerned about the impact for cost, access and quality of care.”  Though the article enumerates several benefits for the state in setting up its own exchange, it notes that just Wednesday, Scott reiterated his opposition to the provision, saying, “No one has been able to show me that health care exchange is going o do anything rather than raise taxes, raise the cost of our companies to do business.”