A surprising number of employers delayed preparing for the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and are now moving quickly to implement changes required by the law, according to CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA), a top 10 U.S. accounting firm. CLA is the fourth-largest auditor of employee benefit plans in the U.S. and audits more than 2,000 plans.
Fifty-seven percent of 861 employer representatives who attended a CLA informational program about health care reform in the days before the Nov. 6 presidential election said they were waiting for the election to fully address reform. Twenty-three percent of the attendees — who represented a wide variety of for-profit and nonprofit businesses and organizations — indicated they still needed assistance to make employee benefits decisions with regard to health care reform changes. The respondents attended “The Impact of Health Care Reform on Employers” webcasts on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2 (the webcast was the same both days).
“Since the June Supreme Court decision upholding most PPACA provisions, many employers have been actively engaged in planning for reform,” said Anita Baker, CPA, managing partner of CLA’s employee benefit plan practice. “So it was surprising to learn that only 8 percent of organizations represented at our program had implemented the provisions of reform to date.”
Baker said employers need to be aware of additional fees that will be assessed on insurers and plan administrators of employer self-insured plans beginning in 2013. Costs and implementation vary widely among employers. The fees will increase the cost of providing group health plans for employees and include: 1. Fees to fund research on patient-centered outcomes, 2. Transitional reinsurance fees, 3. Pay-or-play penalties (in some cases, the total cost of these penalties may be less than the total cost of providing coverage), and 4. The 2018 “Cadillac tax.”
In addition to new fees, the government is putting into place additional health care reporting requirements for employers. “There will be an influx of guidance and regulations issued by the Department of Labor, the IRS, and the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure the provisions of the PPACA are implemented,” Baker said.
Employers should be aware of the fees and reporting requirements and work with their benefits consultants to determine the financial impact of health care reform on their organizations. CLA’s Health Insurance and Penalty Calculator provides information about the impact of reform on individual companies.
CLA professionals can help your readers understand the complex issues associated with reform. Please contact me for interviews and content tailored to your needs. The webinar and presentation materials are available at no charge at http://www.cliftonlarsonallen.com/Employee-Benefit-Plans/Impact-of-Health-Reform-on-Employers-Webinar.aspx.
About CliftonLarsonAllen
CliftonLarsonAllen is one of the nation’s top 10 certified public accounting and consulting firms. Structured to provide clients with highly specialized industry insight, the firm delivers its audit, accounting, tax, consulting, and advisory capabilities from industry-specific perspectives. CliftonLarsonAllen offers unprecedented emphasis on serving privately held businesses and their owners, as well as not-for-profits and governmental entities. The firm has a staff of more than 3,600 professionals, operating from more than 90 offices across the country. For more information about CliftonLarsonAllen, visit http://www.cliftonlarsonallen.com/.