What Every Employer Needs to Know about the Affordable Care Act TODAY!

By: Arthur Tacchino, JDChief Innovation Officer SyncStream Solutions, LLC

• Individual Exchange Marketplace

– Subsidies available for eligible individuals

– Biggest issue so far is glitches in technology

• SHOP – Small Business Health Options Program

Exchange

– Online application delayed until November 1

– SHOP functionality delayed until 2015

• Choosing from all plans on a tier of coverage

Exchanges

Government Shutdown/Debt Ceiling• Does it affect healthcare reform?

– NO!• What is on the table for negotiation?

– Medical device tax delay– Reinsurance tax delay– Individual mandate delay

• Proposal to change full-time to 40 hours a week

Exchange Notification

• Employers required to provide a notice of the

exchanges to employees by October 1, 2013– Q: Can an employer be fined for failing to provide employees with notice

about the Affordable Care Act's new Health Insurance Marketplace?

– A: No. If your company is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, it

should provide a written notice to its employees about the Health

Insurance Marketplace by October 1, 2013, but there is no fine or penalty

under the law for failing to provide the notice.

Applicable Large Employer Status Check

• When?

– At the end of 2013

– Throughout 2014

• Why?

– If you are an “applicable large employer”, then you

are subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility

Tax

A.L.E. Tiers

• 0 to 30 FTE’s In the clear!

• 30 to 50 FTE’s Caution!

• 50 or more FTE’s All hands on deck!

• Documentation is king!!! Beware of IRS

auditing!

A.L.E. Status– How? (monthly calculation)

• Step 1: Identify full-time employees (30 or more hours a week)

• Step 2: Aggregate hours of service by non-full-timers

• Step 3: Divide aggregate hours by 120

• Step 4: Add number of full-time employees from Step 1 to the result

of Step 3. This is the number of full-time equivalent employees for

the month

• Step 5: Average this number each month throughout 2014

• If 50 or more, then Applicable Large Employer

M.A.S. Setup

• Measurement Period – 3 to 12 months

• Administrative Period – 0 to 90 days

• Stability Period – the longer of 6 months or the

length of the Measurement Period

• Tracking hours worked by non-full-time employees

• Information used by IRS to determine penalties for

ALEs

What is coming in 2014?

• Total prohibition on pre-existing condition

exclusions

• Guaranteed availability and renewability

• Individual mandate

• Exchanges

• Rising premiums!

What can you do?

• Evaluate your strategy

• Decrease contributions

• Drop coverage

• Change plans

• Shift full-time employees to part-time status

Utilize Resources

• ACA Decision Support Tool

• ACA Dashboard

• Subsidy Determinator

• SyncACA

Q & A

Visit us at www.sync-stream.com

Call: 877-291-9256

Email: infoabout@sync-stream.com