Employers Must Provide Health Insurance Marketplace Notices To All Employees By October 1, 2013
To be compliant with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act) and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employers must provide to each employee by October 1, 2013, written notice explaining the existence of and services provided by the new Health Insurance Marketplace. Additionally, to maintain compliance, employers will be under an ongoing obligation to provide this notice to each new employee at the time of hire. For 2014, notice given to new employees will be considered provided at the time of hiring if given within 14 days of the employee’s start date.
The requirements of this notice are as follows:
- Notice must be given to each employee – whether working part time or full time – and must be provided free of charge.
- Notice must be written in a manner that will be understood by the average employee.
- Notice may be provided either by first class mail, or alternatively, may be provided electronically if all Department of Labor electronic safe harbor requirements are met. You can view the electronic safe harbor requirements as provided by 29 CFR 2520.104b-1(c) at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=504a03191664e90577167141ca436667&rgn=div8&view=text&node=29:9.1.3.3.3.6.10.1&idno=29.
- Notice must inform the employee of the existence of the Health Insurance Marketplace and describe its services.
- Notice must explain that if the employee purchases a qualified health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace, the employee may be eligible for a tax credit if the employer plan’s share of total allowed costs of benefits provided under the plan is less than 60 percent of such costs.
- Notice must explain that the employee may lose employer’s health benefits if employee purchases a qualified plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Employers can download a free Model Notice directly from the Department of Labor’s website at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/healthreform/. The Department of Labor provides two model notices: (1) one for employers who offer health care plans to employees, and (2) one for employers who do not offer health care plans to employees. The website also provides additional information about the Affordable Care Act.
Individuals and business owners can learn more about the Health Insurance Marketplace by going to https://www.healthcare.gov. Additionally, small business owners with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees with an average wage of less than $50,000 per year may be eligible to claim a tax credit for covering at least 50 percent of the cost of single (not family) health care coverage for each employee. For more information about the tax credit and eligibility requirements, visit http://www.irs.gov/uac/Small-Business-Health-Care-Tax-Credit-for-Small-Employers.
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