NAHU is excited to announce that earlier this month Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced S. 1908, and Representatives Diane Black (R-TN) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced H.R. 3919. These bipartisan bills will provide much-needed relief for employers seeking to comply with the reporting requirements under Sections 6055 and 6056 for enforcement of the ACA’s individual and employer mandates. NAHU has long sought these reforms and we look forward to advancing this as a bipartisan solution to address the challenges being faced under the health-reform law. With renewed focus on finding bipartisan solutions to ongoing health-reform challenges, we are greatly encouraged by the introduction of this legislation.
The reporting requirements were finalized in March 2014 by the Treasury Department and IRS, and detail what health plan information all employers are required to report to the federal government annually for enforcement of the ACA’s individual and employer mandates. NAHU has repeatedly stressed concerns with these requirements, particularly their confusing and complicated nature for businesses of all sizes, and has worked with legislators to develop a commonsense solution to ease this annual compliance burden.
H.R. 3919 and S. 1908 will ease the compliance reporting requirements for employers offering health insurance coverage to their employees. Specifically, the legislation would:
- Establish a new voluntary reporting system for employers to report to the IRS information about their health plans. Exchanges will use the federal data hub to access this data for individual verification for tax credits.
- Require that employers report to the IRS only those employees (and/or their dependents) who are not receiving healthcare from their employer, greatly simplifying the requirement that all employees be reported.
- Specify that information that would be reported would include name and employer identification, who has been extended an offer of minimum essential coverage, whether coverage meets minimum value and the affordability safe harbor, and months that coverage is available without waiting periods.
- Allow employers to deliver reports to employees electronically without another consent form.
- Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on the notifications, HHS appeals process and the prospective reporting system.
- Require HHS to review the most recent tax filing for individuals automatically reenrolled in exchange-based coverage and adjust their tax credits accordingly.
Take action today! Please urge your member of Congress to cosponsor H.R. 3919 and senators to support S. 1908! You can help us spread the message by taking action:
- Contact your senators and representative. Send an Operation Shout today asking your legislators to support these employer reporting reforms. You can also call your legislators at the numbers below.
- Tell your employer clients to take action. Your employer clients are the most directly impacted by complying with the employer reporting requirements and would greatly benefit from these reforms. Tell them to take action here.
- Share your story. As a licensed insurance specialist who works closely with employers to help them understand and comply with the law’s requirements, stories from your clients about how they are impacted by the requirements will demonstrate the need for these reforms. We will share your stories with appropriate legislators and staff. You can share your story here.
Take action today and tell your federal legislators to support much-needed reforms to the employer reporting requirements!
Don’t want to send an email? No problem, you can also reach your senators by phone:
Rep. Billy Long (R) can be reached at (202) 225-6536.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) can be reached at (202) 224-6154.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R) can be reached at (202) 224-5721.