It’s been six years since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law, impacting employee benefits in many new and profound ways. With its goal to have more people insured with affordable health coverage, the federal government has slowly impacted the entire healthcare landscape.
Companies of all sizes have felt the affect of new government regulations changing and challenging their business models with new rules and guidelines that have made it almost impossible to keep things the same as six years ago. Midsize companies those with 50 to 999 employees have been hardest hit in many respects with mandates to provide coverage and requirements for compliance and reporting.
Many businesses are moving cautiously ahead with filing their finalized Forms 1095 C and 1094 C to the IRS by May 31, 2016. They are waiting to hear in November if they are getting fined under the employer shared responsibility penalty and they are preparing for the nondiscrimination testing requirements if they have a fully-insured health plan, which may require them to develop new eligibility rules or a reduce benefits for some highly compensated executives.
This may be why midsize business owners are reporting greater confidence around the ACA, but more anxiety over the volume of government regulations, according to a recently released 2015 ADP Midsized Business Owners Study. The Study released in January 2016 notes that nearly three out of five survey respondents think the ACA has made benefits administration more complex.
Many midsize companies are experiencing this HR strain and subsequently indicated that approximately one-quarter of them are more likely to outsource benefits, up from 9% in 2013. They also responded that they are more likely to look to benefits brokers, agents and benefits administration vendors for advice when selecting a benefits solution.
Business owners recognize that the ACA is here to stay and they are looking for help to solve the compliance challenges associated with the often-changing federal regulations. As they continue to analyze and understand their business needs in this new environment, they will have a clearer picture of their responsibilities and how to best meet them and avoid any future penalties.
