There have been many questions about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and for a good reason. It’s important for business owners to be aware of how the Affordable Care Act will affect their businesses. However, with all of the misconceptions about the ACA lately, this is difficult for employers to do.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has an ongoing blog series entitled “Myth Vs. Fact: The Affordable Care Act and Small Business”, which recently addressed the question of the new Health Insurance Marketplace, and what business owners should be telling their employees. This information is necessary for business owners to know.
Myth: Business owners will be fined if they don’t notify their employees about the new health insurance marketplace.
Fact: Under the ACA, if your company is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, you must provide your employees with a written notice about the new Health Insurance Marketplace by October 2013. However, despite what rumors say, you will not be fined for failing to provide this notice.
Even though there is no fine, business owners should inform their employees that the new Health Insurance Marketplace is open for enrollment in all states on October 2013. Employees should also know that they may be able to purchase lower cost private insurance in the individual marketplace, but may lose the employer contribution (if any) to their health beneits by doing so.
For more information on the Affordable Care Act, or to view sample notices to provide employees, please visit the Department of Labor’s website, www.dol.gov/ebsa/healthreform. To sign up for email updates from SBA, visit www.sba.gov.
Be sure to attend the Metro South Chamber of Commerce’s upcoming Good Morning Metro South on October 23 to learn more about the how Health Care Reforms will impact you.