On July 3, 2013, the Obama Administration delays the Employer Mandate of Obamacare until January 1, 2015. Washington claims to be listening to businesses when they were screaming that they need more time to figure out how to do their part with the new law. With only six months remaining, it is simply not enough time. This is huge for businesses in America with fifty or more employees. However, what does it mean for the future of Obamacare?
There are 200,000 businesses in the United States with fifty or more employees. Ninety-four percent of them already have health insurance in place. It is believed that even though the employer mandate will not be there for another year, most employers will not be dropping the health insurance plans. Employers are still competing for good, quality employees.
Employees are required to work at least thirty hours per week to be eligible for the health insurance. Due to the law, many businesses are not only cutting back hours, but they are laying people off to fall under this threshold of fifty employees.
With that said, some of the businesses are considering dropping the plan altogether. Let's face it, the employer 'Tax' penalty is less expensive than the group health plan. This will also allow employees, depending on their status and income, may qualify for tax subsidy that will reduce their overall premium responsibility.
Obamacare brings many questions into play. This law is so complex that after three and half years, since it was signed into law, it is still not enough time to figure out what the law actually says and to build the infrastructure. The government is trying to figure things out as they move closer. Delaying the mandate will help businesses get the answers to their questions and the Government can have additional time to figure out how to put it altogether.
Some may think this is a sign of more postponement of the healthcare law. The government has put unrealistic time frames on sections of the law. In the end, will the law stay fully intact? Time will tell… For now, buying time is what businesses needed and Washington listened.
As we move closer to healthcare reform in 2014, it is wise to stick close to experts in the field that took the time to study to trends. There are items in the law that change every week. It is difficult for the average consumer to get all the updates from the news. If the government silently announces some thing about the healthcare law, the media may never even pick it up and it could be very important to you.
Butch Zemar