3 Key Points to Understand About the Employer Mandate Delay

The Obama administration late yesterday announced that it is postponing for one year the requirement that businesses cover their workers under the new health care law. Regulatory officials acknowledged that the delay was prompted by compliance complexity concerns raised by employers and other stakeholders.

Here are a few key points to understand about the decision to delay the employer mandate until 2015:

• There will be no penalties the first year on businesses that don’t cover workers. Small businesses, with fewer than 50 workers, were already exempt from that rule.
• The move does not affect the individual mandate – the requirement that most Americans get insurance.
• It doesn’t delay the new marketplaces where people and small businesses can sign up for coverage starting in October.

This action was further explained in a Treasury Department blog post authored by Mark J. Mazur, the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

We are analyzing this development to determine how it may affect other ACA compliance requirements. We’ll be releasing more detailed communication on this matter soon, as well as a webinar to update you on how the landscape of ACA has changed after this announcement.