{"id":10206,"date":"2013-09-19T10:30:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T14:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.franchisegator.com\/articles\/?p=10206"},"modified":"2023-12-07T15:07:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T20:07:38","slug":"5-questions-about-healthcare-reform-11728","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchisegator.com\/articles\/5-questions-about-healthcare-reform-11728\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions Business Owners Should Be Asking About Healthcare Reform (Plus Some Answers)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confused about healthcare reform? We thought so. Here are five
\nquestions you are probably asking, along with some answers that should
\nhelp you sleep better a night.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/strong>Are the healthcare reform police about to bust through my front door?<\/strong>No employer must<\/em> offer coverage. Depending
    \non the size of your company, different provisions apply. Fifty employees
    \n is the tipping point. For businesses with 50 or fewer employees, there
    \nis the Small
    \n Business Health Options Program<\/a> (SHOP) that opens October 1,
    \n2013 and is designed as an online marketplace for health insurance. You
    \nmay be eligible for Small
    \n Business Health Care Tax Credits. If you have 51 or more
    \nfull-time equivalent employees, you should plan on offering affordable
    \ninsurance that meets minimum value, as determined by government
    \nstandards, or face a penalty. You may be subject to the Employer
    \n Shared Responsibility payment if at least one of your full
    \ntime employees gets lower costs on their monthly premiums through the
    \nMarketplace. Confused? Consider hiring a broker who knows his or her way
    \n around the changing healthcare landscape and can guide you through some
    \n of these regulations.<\/li>\n
  2. Should I make my part timers work fewer hours?<\/strong>This is not a simple yes or no answer. Employees who work 30
    \nor more hours per week are now considered full time. If you employ 51 or
    \n more people and have part time employees who work 32 hours a week, you
    \nare going to have to either provide coverage or pay a penalty. It is up
    \nto you to decide if you want to offer your part-time employees coverage.
    \n There are a multitude of factors that will guide you. Depending on the
    \nstate in which you do business, and the size of your company, how much
    \ncoverage you want to offer, and the makeup of your participant
    \npopulation, you will have different options and requirements.<\/li>\n
  3. Do I have to do anything right this very minute?<\/strong>Well, sort of. The enforcement of the Employer Mandate taxes
    \nand reporting has been delayed until 2015. However, there are a number
    \nof requirements that did not get delayed. For example, by October 1, you
    \n need to send a notice to employees. Otherwise, you don’t have to do
    \nanything, but it’s a very good idea to get smart on healthcare reform.
    \nReview and revise all plan documents.<\/li>\n
  4. What? Does this mean my insurance rates are going up?<\/strong>You’re not going to like the short answer: it depends. There
    \nhave been studies that show, on average, that rates will go up, but it
    \nall depends on what state you are in, the level of coverage you offer,
    \nyour plan participant population. However, there will continue to be
    \nupward pressure on insurance prices in general.<\/li>\n
  5. What’s the penalty for not having insurance?<\/strong>As of October 1, 2013 companies with at least one employee and
    \n $500,000 in annual revenue face up to a $100 per day fine if they fail
    \nto send out a letter notifying all employees of the Affordable Care
    \nAct’s healthcare exchanges. If your business is regulated under the Fair
    \n Labor Standards Act, regardless of size, you must comply. Going
    \nforward, letters are to be distributed to any new hires within 14 days
    \nof their starting date, according to the Department of Labor. The
    \npenalty, also known as the Employer Mandate, does not go into effect
    \nuntil 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Confused about healthcare reform? We thought so. Here are five questions you are probably asking, along with some answers that should help you sleep better a night. Are the healthcare reform police about to bust through my front door?No employer must offer coverage. Depending on the size of your company, different provisions apply. Fifty employees … 5 Questions Business Owners Should Be Asking About Healthcare Reform (Plus Some Answers)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-do-i"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Questions Business Owners Should Be Asking About Healthcare Reform (Plus Some Answers) - Franchising Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.franchisegator.com\/articles\/5-questions-about-healthcare-reform-11728\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Questions Business Owners Should Be Asking About Healthcare Reform (Plus Some Answers) - 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