Employer Beware: Managing Emerging Risks Presented By Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was created with a central goal in mind, namely, to put consumers back in charge of their health care. Under the law, a new “Patient’s Bill of Rights” operates to afford the American people the stability and flexibility for healthcare choices. Access to healthcare for all however, comes at a premium for businesses that are mandated to supply healthcare to its employees. One of the well-known provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act is the “employer mandate” which states that companies must provide health insurance coverage for employees or they will face government penalties. Beginning in 2015, if an employer with fifty or more full-time employees fails to offer health care coverage to its employees, it will have to pay a $2,000 annual fine for each worker over the first thirty employees. Companies with fewer than fifty full-time employees are exempt. Employees who are not covered by their employers will be forced to obtain health insurance or face a tax penalty. An exception to the general rule of the mandate is that an employer does not have to provide health insurance coverage for employees who log fewer than 30 hours per week on average. This part-time status exception has become a new loophole for creative employers who…