Following recent, pertinent regulatory developments to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its implementation, ISSA outlined a brief overview of some of the more salient developments.

In February the Treasury Department issued final rules for implementation of the ACA employer mandate, including transition relief delaying until January 1, 2016 enforcement for employers with 50 – 99 employees. Employers with 100 or more full-time employees must offer affordable minimum essential coverage to 70% of full time employees on January 1, 2015; the ACA-mandated threshold of 95% begins on January 1, 2016. Employers utilizing transition relief must certify they did not terminate employees in order to get under the 100-employee threshold.

In March the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final rules implementing ACA employer reporting requirements under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6055 (employer reports to the IRS information concerning the type and period of coverage offered for purposes of administering the ACA’s individual shared responsibility provisions) and IRC §6056 (employer provides information to the IRS about the type of coverage offered to full-time employees for purposes of administering the ACA’s employer mandate; also requires certain reporting to employees for purposes of determining eligibility for ACA premium tax credits). The forms themselves have been issued in draft form. More on the forms from the agency is expected in August, and first reporting is due in February 2016.

In March the Administration extended for an additional two years (i.e., through October 2016) the delay in requiring policies to meet ACA minimum coverage standards. Extension is voluntary for states and insurers.

In May the IRS clarified that employers may not provide employees with a lump sum of money with which to purchase health insurance in the individual market because such “employer payment plans” do not satisfy requirements of the ACA. The penalty for violators: $100 per day per employee.

ISSA will continue to monitor and report about ACA regulatory developments in the coming months.