The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be implemented Jan. 1, 2014, and as with all complex systems, not all the ramifications can be fully predicted. Now’s the time to get informed.
A new poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 42 percent of Americans don’t even realize the president’s health care law is on the books and nearly six in 10 of the uninsured don’t understand how it will impact them.
Employers who employ more than 50 people are required by law to offer health insurance or pay a fine every year of $2,000 per employee; that fine, however, has been delayed until 2015. The extra year, according to assistant secretary for tax policy Mark Mazur in a post on the Treasury Department website, will give the government time to make the reporting process more user-friendly for businesses.
The law specifically exempts all firms that have fewer than 50 employees – 96 percent of all firms in the United States – from any employer responsibility requirements.
To learn more, check out the U.S. Department of Labor’s website (www.dol.gov) and look for “Affordable Care Act” under “Resources,” or visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services site at www.healthcare.gov; click on Health Insurance Basics/Employers & Self-Employed. See if you qualify for the small business tax credit at www.irs.gov.