As a business owner, it’s important to understand how the Affordable Care Act may affect your business. If your company is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, you must provide a written notice to your employees about the Health Insurance Marketplace by October 1, 2013.
Which Employers Must Provide This Notification?
Under the Affordable Care Act, all employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (generally, those companies which have at least one employee and at least $500,000 in annual dollar volume of business), must notify their employees about the new Health Insurance Marketplace, whether or not the employer currently provides health coverage to its employees. The notice must be delivered to every employee, full-time and part-time, and whether or not they have health plan coverage. As an employer, you are not required to give any notice to dependents or other individuals who are or may become eligible for coverage under the plan but who are not employees.
What Information Do I Need to Include in the Notice to My Employees?
The notice should inform employees:The existence of health insurance marketplaces; Services provided by health insurance marketplaces; How to contact a health insurance marketplace for assistance; The possibility that employees may lose the employer contribution to any employer-provided health plan if they purchase a plan through a health insurance marketplace; The possibility that employees may lose the ability to exclude employer and employee contributions from their income for federal income tax purposes if they purchase a plan through a health insurance marketplace; and Whether employees may be eligible for a premium tax credit if they purchase a qualified health plan through a health insurance marketplace.
What is the Timing for the Notice?
Employers are required to provide this notice to all current employees by October 1, 2013, and to each new employee at the time of hire beginning on that same date. This requirement applies regardless of an employee’s plan enrollment status (if applicable) or their part-time or full-time status. The Department of Labor will consider a notice to be provided at the time of hiring if the notice is provided within 14 days of an employee’s start date.
Where Can I Get Sample Notices?
The Department of Labor has provided employers with two sample notices they may use to help comply with this rule: If you do not offer healthcare insurance to employees, click here for a sample notice.
If you do offer healthcare insurance to employees, click here for a sample notice.
Where Can I Get More Information?
You can go to http://www.healthcare.gov or http://www.irs.gov/uac/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions-Home to learn more about the new law.
