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ACA employer mandate delayed one year

ACA employer mandate delayed one year

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Enforcement of the federal health care law mandate requiring employers to provide health care coverage to workers or face a fine has been delayed for a year, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.

Obama administration officials said the decision to delay enforcement of the mandate, a central component of the Affordable Care Act, was made in response to feedback from members of the business community who expressed concern about compliance with the employer and insurer reporting requirements under the law.

White House officials will “convene employers, insurers, and experts to propose a smarter system” for employers and insurers to meet those reporting requirements, Valerie B. Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, wrote in a post on the White House blog. Meanwhile enforcement of both the reporting requirements and the employer coverage mandate will be suspended in 2014.

“[W]e believe we need to give employers more time to comply with the new rules,” Jarrett wrote, adding that the yearlong postponement “allows employers the time to test the new reporting systems and make any necessary adaptations to their health benefits while staying the course toward making health coverage more affordable and accessible for their workers.”

Enforcement of the individual mandate, requiring most taxpayers to either purchase health insurance or pay a penalty, will still begin next year, officials said.

Republican lawmakers and other critics of the law immediately seized upon the news, saying it demonstrates the law’s burdensome effect on employers.

“This is Obamacare unraveling,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. “This delay will make a giant mess of the individual mandate because presumably individuals are still required to purchase insurance.”

The ACA reporting requirements apply to insurance providers and certain employers who provide health coverage to full-time employees in workforces of more than 50 people. Proposed revisions to the reporting rules are expected this summer.

“Once these rules have been issued, the Administration will work with employers, insurers, and other reporting entities to strongly encourage them to voluntarily implement this information reporting in 2014, in preparation for the full application of the provisions in 2015,” wrote Mark Mazur, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, in a post Tuesday on the treasury Department’s blog. “Real-world testing of reporting systems in 2014 will contribute to a smoother transition to full implementation in 2015.”

Officials urged employers already providing health care coverage to employees to continue to do so during the transition period.

Jarrett said the Health Insurance Marketplace, a system in which individuals and small businesses can access health care coverage options, is “on track” to open Oct. 1.

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