Modern Healthcare Taps Joel Ario for Article on Employer Mandate Delay
"Stakeholders React to Fallout from Employer Mandate Delay"
Modern Healthcare
July 3, 2013 - Modern Healthcare interviewed Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, on the ramifications that the employer mandate delay will have on businesses, particularly on those that tend to hire part-time workers.
Modern Healthcare reports that the mandate applies to employees who work at least 30 hours a week, thereby impacting thousands of companies.
"I've been told there's an estimated 10,000 business (who have more than) 50 employees that don't meet the mandate," said Ario. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires businesses with 51 or more workers to provide qualifying employer-sponsored health coverage or else face a penalty of $2,000 per employee.
Ario said the Obama administration's decision to delay enforcing the employer mandate was the right call given two significant problems percolating in the employer community. The first was a requirement on reporting the number of employees considered full-time equivalents for the purpose of determining if a business has 51 or more employees. He says the requirement was cumbersome, and the delay will give the Obama administration time to simplify it.
The second issue, he said, was that while most employers affected by the mandate already provided health coverage for full-time employees, expanding the definition of full-time to 30 hours a week could present financial issues for some companies.