Affordable Care Act employer mandate requirement postponed for a year

The Administration announced on Tuesday, July 2, that it is postponing for one year the requirement that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide health insurance to such employees or face significant monetary penalties.

After much painstaking and in-depth analysis involving National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) members, the Government Affairs Committee, the Home Care & Hospice Financial Managers Association and the Forum of State Associations, NAHC concluded that this provision would cause major problems, undermining the success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and likely jeopardizing patients’ access to care. Although NAHC is happy for the temporary reprieve, it is fiercely determined to permanently resolve this problem.

“We are grateful that the Obama Administration has heard the cries of small employers who want very much to comply with the provisions of the ACA but simply cannot do so,” stated NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris. “Postponing the effective date for imposing a penalty of $2,000 per employee on companies who do not provide them with health care coverage is a good start but it is only a delay on the way to a permanent solution.”

NAHC has offered to work with any and all on that permanent fix. NAHC asks the Administration to show consideration for home care and hospice providers who are being stretched to capacity as they care for increasing numbers of the 78 million baby boomers in the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, home care will be the most-needed profession over the next ten years; home care aides, personal care assistants and nurses will be in increasingly short supply.

NAHC wishes to thank Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), one of the key people who intervened with the White House to produce the delay. He responded to NAHC’s appeal, delivered by its vice chairman Lucy Andrews.

Source: http://www.nahc.org/