Effective Jan. 1, 2016, under the employer mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers with 50-99 full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees (applicable large employers) must offer full-time employees (and dependents) minimum essential coverage that is affordable and provides minimum value or be subject to heavy penalties. Note: effective for the 2015 calendar year, such employers are subject to reporting requirements (refer to Reporting Requirements section below).

Are you in compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements? To learn about the reporting requirements and important upcoming deadlines, a webinar presented by ABC’s general counsel, Littler Mendelson is available for ABC members to view, which can be found. A login is required to view the webinar titled “Compliance Alert—Learn About the Affordable Care Act’s New Reporting Requirements for 2015” and a PowerPoint is also available.  

President Obama signed into law an ABC-supported, bipartisan change to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) the evening of Oct. 7. The bill signed into law, the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act (H.R. 1624/ S. 1099), will remove the ACA requirement that mandates states to expand the small group definition. As a member of the 50-100 Coalition, ABC urged Congress to pass the PACE Act in letters to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate as well as to individual members of Congress.

In conjunction with 17 other employer organizations, ABC sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging them to issue a two-year delay until 2018 of the expansion of the small group market definition in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Under the ACA, the small group market definition is expanded to include employers with 51-100 employees, which is effective in 2016.  

On Feb. 13, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) introduced the Jobs and Premium Protection Act (H.R. 928), which would fully repeal the health insurance tax (HIT) provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ABC-supported coalition, Stop the HIT, sent a letter commending Boustany and Sinema for coming together to repeal the burdensome tax.

ABC and 40 of its chapters joined the More Time for Full-Time Initiative in urging the Senate to co-sponsor the Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2015 which would restore the traditional definition of full-time employment to 40 hours per week in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)which currently defines full-time as at least 30 hours per week. 

Important Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation and enforcement deadlines—such as for the employer mandate ("pay or play") and information reporting requirements—are approaching quickly. Make sure you are prepared by taking advantage of the resources ABC is offering, including a recent webinar on how these complex ACA requirements could impact your company in 2015.  

As required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Treasury (Treasury) Aug. 28 released draft information reporting form instructions that employers will use to report on the health coverage they offer their employees. This impacts employers with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time-equivalent employees as well as employers that self-insure. Effective 2015, employers must collect the information required to be reported under ACA and, beginning in 2016, file the information reporting returns with the IRS. Learn more by reading the update from Littler Mendelson, ABC’s general counsel .

Updated summaries of employer requirements included in the Affordable Care Act are available for ABC members in reference documents provided by Washington Council Ernst & Young. The documents are available in the Health Care Law Employer Toolkit (login required) on ABC’s website.

On March 10, the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final rules on information reporting by applicable large employers on health insurance coverage offered under employer-sponsored plans and information reporting of minimum essential coverage. The final regulations relate to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer and insurer information reporting requirements under Internal Revenue Code sections 6055 and 6056.