2019 Changes to the ACA
2019 Changes to the ACA
The Affordable Care Act has had many Americans divided since being signed into law in 2010. The Affordable Care Act or ACA has plenty of pros and cons to consider. Rather people saw it as a burden or a benefit depended on each individual case. Some love it, some hate it, and a few think it’s a step in the right direction. Those opinions might shift when we enter the 2019 year. Changes made by the Trump administration are altering the ACA individual mandate. Before we go into these changes, we will look at the two mandates that define the Affordable Care Act. These are the Individual Mandate and the Employer Mandate.
The Individual Mandate: The individual mandate as it currently stands states that an individual must have some form of healthcare or pay a penalty. This penalty is known as the individual shared responsibility payment. This penalty or payment is taken out of the tax returns come tax time. If you file taxes with a spouse or have dependants labeled on your taxes, all members must be covered. The penalty will be applied for each uninsured family member marked as a dependant.
The Employer Mandate: The employer mandate dictates that an employer must offer healthcare to its employees if it meets certain criteria. To meet these criteria, the company must have at least 50 full-time employees or full-time equivalents (FTEs). To qualify as a full-time employee they must work at least 30 hours per week. An employee has the option to refuse this healthcare and use a healthcare provider outside of the company. For any employee not offered health care by the employer, the employer will face a tax penalty.
As of 2019, The Individual Mandate will be changed. This will remove the penalty or payment required for not having healthcare. This will not remove the requirement to have health care. It simply removes the penalty for not having it. At the moment only the Individual Mandate is seeing a significant change. While this might have indirect consequences for employers, The Employer Mandate itself is not being changed. This doesn’t mean there are no future plans for the Employer Mandate. So it is important to keep up to date.
Why You Need To Know This: While the Individual Mandate might not affect you, employees might still ask questions about it. They might come to you and you want to be able to answer their questions. The penalty being removed is a major change to the Individual Mandate. With one major change being made more are possible.
To better stay informed hire Ormond Beach payroll company Vision H.R. We can handle your payroll, update you on any changes in laws or regulations, administer all your benefits and be your Agent for all things regarding health insurance.
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